Here’s what happened.
Glenn Wallichs and his business partner were probably just hoping that George “Buddy” DeSylva’s employer, 20th Century-Fox, would invest in the company they wanted to start. Instead, DeSylva wrote a check for $15,000 out of his own money and offered to become a partner.
That meeting at a restaurant in Hollywood, California on February 2, 1942 continues to be significant for many reasons. DeSylva probably recognized a lucrative opportunity, particularly since the third partner in their new record company was one of the greatest songwriters of his era: Georgia native John Herndon “Johnny” Mercer. The music enterprise they founded was Capitol Records.
Here’s why it mattered then.
The Mercer family of Savannah had an impressive history in Georgia, Virginia, and New Jersey, particularly at Princeton University. But family fortunes declined dramatically in the years before the Great Depression, and Mercer was unable to enroll. So he moved to New York City in 1928 with the dream of writing and performing music. The black musicians and singers he had grown up listening to in Savannah served as inspiration.
Mercer’s peers were an impressive company: Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Hoagland “Hoagy” Carmichael. He collaborated with Carmichael on several legendary hits, including “Lazybones” and “Stardust.” Ironically, they were posthumous competitors in 1979 when the Georgia General Assembly passed a resolution to select the official State Song. Mercer’s Oscar-winning “Moon River” lost to Carmichael’s legendary “Georgia On My Mind.”
Here’s why it matters now.
For 70 years, The Capitol Group has published or distributed works of musical giants. Introducing The Beatles to America would be historic enough. Dozens of other “alumni” have included Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, The Beach Boys, The Kingston Trio, Linda Ronstadt, Pink Floyd, Garth Brooks, Queen, Peter Tosh, Bob Segar, Maze, Dave Koz, Snoop Dogg, Corinne Bailey Rae, and many Atlanta area artists such as Faith Evans. Capitol launched the mainstream careers of both Nat “King” Cole, and his daughter Natalie. Mercer made enough money from Capitol to retire his family’s debts.
Even people who aren’t familiar with Mercer know selections from his work. As noted here, Mercer musical Americana includes “You Must have Been a Beautiful Baby,” “Blues in the Night,” “That Old Black Magic,” and the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers soundtrack.
Here’s the latest update . . .
The Johnny Mercer Collection at Georgia State University (GSU) is a great background source for debates about Mercer’s best song. Jazz aficionados might be partial to “Satin Doll,” the lyrics he composed for Billy Strayhorn and Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington.
Before he died, Mercer agreed to give a number of unfinished works to an emerging musical artist named Barry Manilow as a gift. One result was Manilow’s hit, “When October Goes.”
. . . And here’s an interesting fact!
Unfulfilled love, or passion (or both), often serves as inspiration for musical artists. Some of Mercer’s songs (such as “Skylark,” another collaboration with Carmichael) may have been inspired by his affair with Judy Garland.
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