Bart Howard

Bart Howard (born Howard Joseph Gustafson, June 1, 1915 – February 21, 2004) was an American songwriter and pianist. He is best known for writing the jazz standard "Fly Me to the Moon".

Biography

Birth and early career

Bart Howard was born on June 1, 1915 in Burlington, Iowa. His parents were musical; both played piano, and his father played guitar and mandolin.[1] During Prohibition and the Depression, his father was also a bootlegger, which paid for young Howie's piano lessons.[2]

At the age of 16 Howard left home to be the pianist for the dance band that toured with the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton. In Los Angeles, hoping to find work in the movies, he played for the female impersonator Ray Bourbon. In 1937 he moved to New York City to accompany Elizabeth Talbot-Martin at the Rainbow Room. He met Mabel Mercer in 1938; in her debut at the Ruban Bleu nightclub, she was the first to sing one of his songs, "If You Leave Paris", in New York. He spent World War II as a musician in the Army.[3][4]

Performing and songwriting

After the war Howard worked at Spivy's Roof, until Mabel Mercer offered him twice the pay to accompany her at Tony's West Side. He played for her for four years, until Tony's closed. He then accompanied Portia Nelson at Celeste.[5][6] In 1952 he became the M.C. and intermission pianist at The Blue Angel nightclub, where he remained for eight years, introducing performers including Johnny Mathis and Eartha Kitt.[3][4]

Howard's first commercial recognition came when Rosemary Clooney recorded "On the First Warm Day" for the first time, in 1952, and the second when Lena Horne recorded "Let Me Love You" on It's Love in 1955. A bigger breakthrough was when Mathis included "Let Me Love You" and "Year After Year" on his second album, Wonderful, Wonderful, in 1957.[6] But much greater success was still to come.

In 1954 Felicia Sanders debuted Howard's song "In Other Words" at the Blue Angel.[5] Kaye Ballard recorded it for the first time that year.[7] Peggy Lee recorded it in 1960, then gave it wide exposure on The Ed Sullivan Show several years later. The song gradually became better known by its first line, as "Fly Me to the Moon". In 1962 and 1963 Joe Harnell's bossa nova instrumental version of the song became a big hit[8] and won a Grammy.[9] Only in 1963 did Peggy Lee convince Howard to officially change the song's title. In 1963 and 1964 Count Basie and Frank Sinatra performed versions of the song rearranged by Quincy Jones from Howard's 3/4 waltz time into the now-familiar 4/4 swing time.[10] Income from the song supported Howard comfortably for the rest of his life.[5]

Howard wrote 50-some songs in all, most often recorded by Mercer, Mathis and Nelson. Other titles include "Be My All (Or Be My Nothing)", "Beautiful Women", "Everybody Wants to Be Loved", "Fantastic", "Forget Me Not", "I'll Be Easy to Find", "The Joy of Loving You", "Love Is a Season", "Miracles", "Music for Lovers", "My Love Is a Wanderer", "Never Kiss", "Nobody Knows (How Much I Love You)", "One Love Affair", "Sell Me", "To Be in Love", "The Tomorrow Song", "Walk in the Country", "Who Wants to Fall in Love", "With Feeling", "You Are in Love" and "You Are Not My First Love". In 1959 he added lyrics to Neal Hefti's "Li'l Darlin'" to create "Don't Dream of Anybody But Me". He wrote English lyrics for Carlo Alberto Rossi and Vito Pallavicini's 1961 Italian hit "Le mille bolle blu", in English "A Thousand Blue Bubbles". At Frank Sinatra's request, Howard wrote "The Man in the Looking Glass" for Sinatra's 1965 album September of My Years.[3][11]

Personal life and death

Howard lived in North Salem, New York, and had homes in Palm Beach, Florida, and France.[5] He died February 21, 2004, at age 88, in Carmel, New York. He was survived by his partner of 58 years, Thomas Fowler, and a sister, Dorothy Lind of Burlington, Iowa.[4]

Awards and honors

"Fly Me to the Moon", whose melody had already won a Grammy, was named a Towering Song by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.[7] Howard was inducted into the Cabaret Hall of Fame in 2015.[1]

Discography

References

  1. ^ a b Lester, Rob (May–June 2025). "The Cabaret Hall of Fame". Cabaret Scenes. American Songbook Association. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  2. ^ Longden, Tom. "Famous Iowans - Bart Howard". DesMoinesRegister.com. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Bart Howard". TRO Essex Music Group. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Holden, Stephen (2004-02-23). "Bart Howard, 88, Songwriter Known for 'Fly Me to the Moon'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-11-05.
  5. ^ a b c d Stephen Holden (December 19, 1988). "Product of 20 Minutes: A Million Dollar Song". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2013-12-19. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  6. ^ a b Leavy, Peter (April 2000). "Flying to the Moon". Cabaret Scenes: 24–28.
  7. ^ a b "Fly Me To The Moon". Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  8. ^ "Hot 100 - Joe Harnell and His Orchestra Fly Me to the Moon - Bossa Nova Chart History". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018.
  9. ^ "5th Annual GRAMMY Awards". GRAMMY.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  10. ^ Friedwald, Will (1995). Sinatra! The Song Is You: A Singer's Art. New York: Scribner. p. 411.
  11. ^ "ACE Repertory". ASCAP.com. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
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