Hy Zaret (born Hyman Harry Zaritsky; August 21, 1907 – July 2, 2007) was an American Tin Pan Alley[1] lyricist and composer who wrote the lyrics of the 1955 hit "Unchained Melody", one of the most-recorded songs of the 20th century.[2]
Personal life
Zaret was born on August 21, 1907, in New York City to Max Zaritsky and Dora Shiffman, who had emigrated from Russia in the 1890s. He attended West Virginia University and Brooklyn Law School, where he received an LLB. He shortened his name legally from Zaritsky to Zaret in 1934.[3] Zaret served in the Army's Special Services division during World War II.[4]
Zaret had two sons, and was married to the former Shirley Goidel. He died at his home in Westport, Connecticut, on July 2, 2007, at the age of 99, months before his 100th birthday.[3]
This song is unique[citation needed] in that it has made No.1 on the U.K. singles charts in four different guises by four different artists over a period of nearly fifty years: Jimmy Young (1955), The Righteous Brothers (1990), Robson & Jerome (1995) and Gareth Gates (2002). The latter three versions have all recorded certified sales in excess of one million copies in the U.K. alone.[citation needed]
Children's music
Zaret turned his attention to educational children's music in the late 1950s, collaborating with Lou Singer on a six-album series called Ballads for the Age of Science; different volumes covered space, energy and motion, experiments, weather, and nature. The records were quite successful, and the songs "Why Does the Sun Shine?" (aka "The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas") and "A Shooting Star Is Not a Star" were even covered by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants in 1993 and 2000, respectively. (source: Steve Huey, Allmusic).
