1892-1934
Roy Turk
1892-1934
Roy Turk
Roy Turk was an American songwriter and lyricist, best known for the 1929 hit "Mean to Me", and co-writer of “Are You Lonesome Tonight” popularized by Elvis Presley. Roy Kenneth Turk was born in New York City on September 20, 1982. He attended City College and served in the United States Navy during World War I. Once discharged, he began writing song lyrics for successful vaudeville performers like Rock & White, Nora Bayes, and Sophie Tucker, and his 1922 work “Aggravatin’ Poppa” even became a standard feature of Tucker’s act. It was in 1919 however, that Turk found his first hit with "Oh How I Laugh When I Think How I Cried About You."
After this, he became a staff writer for music publishers on Tin Pan Alley, acollection of popular music publishers and songwriters in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Turk eventually went on to Hollywood where he wrote song lyrics for Broadway and Hollywood musicals of the time. The first stage production to use some of his songs, Plantation Revue (1922), was unsuccessful; but Turk found success in 1923 with the show “Earl Carroll's Vanities”. He wrote two successful songs for this show, and two more independent hits that year. Turk found his next hit with ”Gimme a Little Kiss, Will Ya, Huh?” written with Jack Smith and Maceo Pinkard, and popularized by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. Another early hit, written with Lou Handman in 1926, was “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” which many people associate with Elvis Presley, who recorded it in 1960.
““Eiusmod exercitation veniam in anim adipisicing culpa excepteur esse quis id magna nostrud amet excepteur minim.” ”
Somebody
RoyTurk
Turk met songwriter Fred Ahlert in 1928 and together they enjoyed a string of successes, beginning with “I’ll Get By (As Long As I Have You)” which continued in popularity throughout the 1940s when it was recorded by Harry James and reached number two on the ‘1944 Hit Parade’. It wasn’t until 1929 however, that they wrote their most famous song, “Mean to Me,” which was a hit for Ruth Etting and eventually became recognized as a jazz standard and was recorded by Billie Holiday and many more. Their 1930 collaboration with Harry Richmond produced “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home,” which enjoyed a revival in the ‘50s when both Nat “King” Cole and Johnnie Ray recorded it. It was number one on the Hit Parade in 1952.
Turk's main collaborator during his career was composer Fred Ahlert, but he also co-wrote songs with Harry Akst, George Meyer, Maceo Pinkard, J. Russel Robinson, and Charles Tobias. Some of Turk’s other hits include "I'll Get By" (1928), "Walkin' My Baby Back Home" (1931), "I Don't Know Why (I Love You Like Do)" (1931), "Love, You Funny Thing" (1932), "After My Laughter Came Tears" (1932), and many more! In 1931 Turk collaborated with Fred Ahlert and American singer Bing Crosby on the hit "Where The Blue Of The Night Meets The Gold Of The Day", which became famous as Bing Crosby's theme song. In 1933 Turk completed his final musical success, with the hit "I Couldn't Tell Them What to Do" (1933). He died in Hollywood, California on November 30, 1934.
Turk’s songs have proven to be timeless and continued to be recorded throughout the century, most famously in 1960, when Elvis Presley recorded a 1927 song by Roy Turk and Lou Handman, "Are You Lonesome Tonight'" which went on to become one of Presley's greatest hits. Turk’s career was cut short when he died in 1934, but his songs have lived on in the Broadway hit, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1978) and in its 1988 revival. Turk was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
