Cy Coleman

Cy Coleman (June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist renowned for his innovative contributions to Broadway musical theater and popular music standards. Born Seymour Kaufman in New York City to Eastern European Jewish immigrant parents and raised in the Bronx, he emerged as a child prodigy, making his Carnegie Hall debut at age seven and later training at the High School of Music and Art and the New York College of Music.

Coleman's career spanned jazz performance, pop songwriting, and theatrical composition, beginning with nightclub piano gigs in New York and recordings with the Cy Coleman Trio for Capitol Records in the 1950s. He gained early acclaim for pop standards like "Witchcraft" (1957) and "The Best Is Yet to Come" (1959), co-written with Carolyn Leigh and recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. His Broadway breakthrough came with Wildcat (1960), followed by landmark scores for Little Me (1962), Sweet Charity (1966) with lyrics by Dorothy Fields and direction by Bob Fosse, Barnum (1980), City of Angels (1989), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), and The Life (1997). Coleman also composed film scores, such as for Father Goose (1964), and television specials featuring stars like Shirley MacLaine and Lily Tomlin.

Over his lifetime, Coleman received three Tony Awards for Best Original Score (On the Twentieth Century in 1978, City of Angels in 1989, and The Will Rogers Follies in 1991), two Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, and an Academy Award nomination for the score of the film Sweet Charity (1969). Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981 and the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2000, his work blended jazz, blues, and classical influences, leaving a lasting legacy through enduring hits like "Big Spender" and "Hey, Look Me Over."