Catalog

Dorothy Fields


Biography

Songwriter, Dorothy Fields wrote some of the most enduring lyrics in the American Songbook and is regarded as one of Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood’s greatest and first, successful female songwriters. Over the course of a sixty year career, she penned over 400 songs and worked on 15 stage musicals and 26 movies.

She grew up in New York City, where she met composer Jimmy McHugh.  The pair co-wrote many hits together including “On The Sunny Side of the Street, ” “Exactly Like You, ” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”

Fields found another successful co-writer in Jerome Kern.  Together, they wrote “I Won’t Dance, ” “A Fine Romance, ” “Pick Yourself Up, ” and one of the most adored songs in American ...

Songwriter, Dorothy Fields wrote some of the most enduring lyrics in the American Songbook and is regarded as one of Tin Pan Alley and Hollywood’s greatest and first, successful female songwriters. Over the course of a sixty year career, she penned over 400 songs and worked on 15 stage musicals and 26 movies.

She grew up in New York City, where she met composer Jimmy McHugh.  The pair co-wrote many hits together including “On The Sunny Side of the Street,” “Exactly Like You,” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”

Fields found another successful co-writer in Jerome Kern.  Together, they wrote “I Won’t Dance,” “A Fine Romance,” “Pick Yourself Up,” and one of the most adored songs in American music history, “The Way You Look Tonight,” which was composed for the film ‘Swing Time’ and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936.

In the 1960’s, Fields teamed up with the much younger Cy Coleman to write the songs for the classic musical ‘Sweet Charity’ (1966), which included such songs as “Big Spender,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” and “Baby, Dream Your Dream.” They collaborated again on the 1973 musical Seesaw.

Her compositions have been recorded by a who’s who of recording artists and continue to be some of the most important in American music history.

Dorothy Fields is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame.

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