CY COLEMAN
By Mahnuel Muñoz
He was a child prodigy who played piano at such prestigious venues as Steinway Hall, Town Hall and Carnegie Hall before he was ten years old.
Cy Coleman was born in New York on June 14, 1929 as Seymour Kaufman and, although his impact on jazz has been small, his contributions to Broadway musical theater earn him a place among the illustrious members of the American Songbook.
Despite early successes in classical music and jazz, Coleman decided to opt for the more lucrative path of popular music. Along with Carolyn Leigh. He wrote many hits, including “Witchcraft” and “The Best Is Yet to Come“, both big hits for Frank Sinatra.
His career as a Broadway composer began when he and Leigh collaborated on “Wildcat” (1960), which marked the Broadway debut of film and television comedian Lucille Ball. In 1964, Coleman met Dorothy Fields at a party, and the two formed a hit-producing team for Broadeay until Fields’ death in 1974. Coleman continued to be prolific in the late 1970s. He collaborated on “I Love My Wife” (1977) with Michael Stewart and “On The Twentieth Century” (1978) with Betty Comden and Adolph Green. With the extraordinary “City of Angels” (1989) with David Zippel, inspired by the detective films of the thirties and forties, he returned to his jazz roots and was a great critical and commercial success. The 1990s brought new Coleman musicals to Broadway, including “The Will Rogers Follies” (1991), again with Comden and Green.
His work was recognized with five Tony Awards (musical theater), three Emmys (television), two Grammys and an Oscar; He is inducted into the Songwriters and American Theater Halls of Fame and holds an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University.
Cy Coleman died in New York on November 18, 2004.
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