Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Charles Fowler Singleton Jr. was born on September 17, 1913 in Jacksonville, Florida. He attended several schools in and around the city and graduated from Stanton High School in 1935. Always interested in singing and dancing, by the time he left school he had become a proficient songwriter. He also produced shows and was responsible for several musical extravaganzas, including April Frolics, which was staged at a nightspot in LaVilla in Jacksonville. Singleton continued to work in Jacksonville into the 1940s.

The early 1950s Singleton moved to New York City and presented his lyrics to Decca Records, who signed him up as a songwriter. By 1954, he had teamed up with Rose Marie McCoy, and the pair went on to write successful hits for Joe Turner, Faye Adams and Ruth Brown. In 1956, Singleton and McCoy, as Charlie and Rosie, recorded a single together on RCA Victor.

Singleton went on to write songs for Pat Boone, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, B. B. King, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Wayne Newton and Andy Williams. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Singleton largely wrote songs without a writing partner, and also recorded an album, The Big Twist Hits, released in 1962 and credited to the Charlie “Hoss” Singleton Combo.

When the song Beddy Bye by Bert Kaempfert came to Frank Sinatra through his producer Jimmy Bowen, he asked the composer to tune it into a song. Bert engaged Singleton wrote the lyrics and Eddie Snyder adapted the music for what became Strangers in the Night and the song became a #1 hit for Sinatra.

He and Snyder had also reworked another Kaempfert instrumental called “Moon Over Naples” into the song Spanish Eyes. Composer and lyricist Charles Singleton, who was known as Hoss, and who also produced several platinum albums, died on December 12, 1985 in his home city.

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