Peter DeRose (or De Rose) (March 10, 1896 – April 23, 1953) was an American composer of jazz and pop music during the era of Tin Pan Alley. In 1970, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Biography
A native of New York City, a son of Anthony and Armelina Agresti De Rose,[1] he showed a gift for all things musical at an early age. He learned to play the piano from an older sister. F.B. Haviland published his first song, "Tiger Rose Waltzes", when he was 18 years old. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in 1917, he found a job at a music store as a stock room clerk. His composition "When You're Gone, I Won't Forget" led to a job at the New York office of Italian music publisher G. Ricordi & Co.[2]
In 1923, DeRose met May Singhi Breen when she performed on radio with the ukulele group The Syncopators. A relationship developed, and she left the group to join DeRose in a musical radio show on NBC called The Sweethearts of the Air in which he played piano and she played ukulele. The show lasted for 16 years, during which time the two entertainers were married, in 1929.[1] The show not only provided them with a good living, but was also a vehicle for introducing his compositions.[2]
In 1932, DeRose wrote music with radio star Phillips H. Lord for one of Lord's Seth Parker religious music books. DeRose also composed music for the 1941 Ice Capades show. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he wrote songs for several Hollywood films. His last hit was "You Can Do It", written shortly before his death in New York City in 1953. He is interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla.
^ ab"Peter De Rose, 53, Songwriter, Dead – Composer of Many Hits and Broadway Scores Teamed With Wife on Air 16 Years". The New York Times. April 24, 1953. p. 23.
^ ab"Peter de Rose". Composers and Lyricists Database. 1988. Retrieved 2 October 2010.