Biography
Pop composer Peter de Rose produced numerous pieces that evolved into enduring jazz and pop standards throughout his extended professional life, most notably his signature instrumental “Deep Purple,” later interpreted by Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Smith, and others. The eldest of many siblings, he entered the world in a sizable New York City household at the turn of the twentieth century; at twelve his sister introduced him to the piano, and he soon mastered playing by ear. Following graduation he secured employment at a music-publishing firm, saw his debut composition appear in print in 1918, and scored his initial commercial success two years later with “When You’re Gone, I Won’t Forget,” a sheet-music seller that exceeded one million copies even though he had already relinquished its rights for twenty-five dollars. Among his other widely recognized works are “Lamp Is Low,” “Autumn Serenade,” “Have You Ever Been Lonely,” “Wagon Wheels,” “On a Little Street in Singapore,” “Starlit Hour,” “That’s Life I Guess,” “Marshmallow World,” and again “Deep Purple,” the latter originally conceived without words until Mitchell Parish supplied the lyrics. Over time de Rose partnered with Harry Richman, Charles Tobias, Sam M. Lewis, and Carl Sigman, yet his principal creative ally remained his wife, May Singhi Breen; together they hosted the radio program Sweethearts of the Air from 1923 to 1939. In addition to three decades of hit songwriting that encompassed material for stage revues, the 1941 Ice Capades, and the early-1950s motion pictures On Moonlight Bay and About Face, his last chart success, “You Can Do It,” arrived shortly before his death in 1953. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, this tunesmith left a catalog that has attracted recordings from John Coltrane, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Giuffre, Les McCann, Spike Jones, Bix Beiderbecke, Patsy Cline, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, June Christy, and numerous additional luminaries.