Cy Coleman - Awards and nominations

Composer, born in New York City, New York, USA. He grew up in the Bronx, began playing piano as a child, and performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of nine. He studied at the New York College of Music and, although classically trained, he turned to jazz and became an accomplished jazz pianist. He also began songwriting and during the 1950s he collaborated with such songwriters as Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden, Bob Fosse and Neil Simon to produce hit songs and scores for several landmark Broadway musicals, including Wildcat (1960), Sweet Charity (1966, Oscar nomination), On the Twentieth Century (1978, Tony), and Barnum (1980). In the 1980s he wrote film scores and composed the Broadway musicals Welcome to the Club (1989) and City of Angels (1989, Tony). His last musical was The Great Ostrovsky, which premiered in 2004, and at the time of his death he was working on a musical version of Pamela's First Musical, based on the children's book by Wendy Wasserstein. Single for most of his life, he married in 1997.

Cy Coleman (June 14, 1929 - November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.

Despite the early classical and jazz success, he decided to build a career in popular music. The pair wrote many pop hits, including Witchcraft and The Best Is Yet To Come.

One of his instrumentals, "Playboy's Theme," became the signature music of the regular TV shows and specials presented by Playboy magazine, and remains synonymous with the magazine and its creator, Hugh Hefner.

Coleman's winning streak as a Broadway composer began when the team collaborated on Wildcat (1960), which marked the Broadway debut of comedienne Lucille Ball.

In 1964, Coleman met Dorothy Fields at a party, and when he asked if she would like to collaborate with him, she is reported to have answered, "Thank God somebody asked". Fields was revitalised by working with the much younger Coleman, and by the contemporary nature of their first project, which was to become Sweet Charity, again with a book by Simon, and starring Gwen Verdon. The show was a major success and Coleman found working with Fields much easier than with Leigh.

Coleman remained prolific in the late 1970s.

In 1980, Coleman served as producer and composer for the circus-themed Barnum, which introduced theatergoers to Jim Dale and Glenn Close.

The 1990s brought more new Coleman musicals to Broadway: The Will Rogers Follies (1991), again with Comden and Green, The Life (1997), a gritty look at pimps, prostitutes, and assorted other lowlife in the big city, with Ira Gasman, and a revised production of Little Me. Coleman's film scores include Father Goose, The Art of Love, Garbo Talks and Family Business.

Coleman was on the ASCAP Board of Directors for many years and also served as their Vice Chairman Writer. He is survived by his wife, Shelby Coleman and their daughter, Lily Cye Coleman (born in 2000). One final musical with a Coleman score played in Los Angeles in 2004 under the title Like Jazz, presumably as a Broadway tryout.

Awards and nominations

1997 Tony Award Best Book of a Musical The Life (nominee) 1997 Tony Award Best Musical The Life (nominee) 1997 Tony Award Best Original Musical Score The Life (nominee) 1991 Tony Award Best Musical The Will Rogers Follies (winner) 1991 Tony Award Best Original Score The Will Rogers Follies (winner) 1990 Tony Award Best Original Score City of Angels (winner) 1980 Tony Award Best Musical Barnum (nominee) 1980 Tony Award Best Original Score Barnum (nominee) 1978 Tony Award Best Original Score On the Twentieth Century (winner) 1977 Tony Award Best Original Score I Love My Wife (nominee) 1974 Tony Award Best Original Score Seesaw (nominee) 1966 Tony Award Best Composer and Lyricist Sweet Charity (nominee) 1966 Tony Award Best Musical Sweet Charity (nominee) 1963 Tony Award Best Composer and Lyricist Little Me (nominee) 1963 Tony Award Best Musical Little Me (nominee)

He also won three Emmy Awards and two Grammy Awards, was elected to the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and was the recipient of the Songwriter's Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award and The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Musical Theater.