American songwriter and guitarist
Born in Knoxville, Tennesee 7 April 1906. Died 1979.
He was active as a guitarist in various bands until the late 1930s when he was hired by a publishing house to write songs. His chief musical collaborators included Terry Shand, Larry Wagner and Grady Watts.
He charted seventeen times as a songwriter between 1937 and 1967 in the U.S. He had a #1 hit with Cry, Baby, Cry by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra in 1938 (co-written by Terry Shand). He also had two #2 songs that same year in I Double Dare You by Russ Morgan and I'm Gonna Lock My Heart by Billie Holiday (both also co-written by Shand). In all, a dozen of his songs made it to the top 10.