- Collection:
- Johnny Mercer Collections
- Title:
- Johnny Mercer interview with Willis Conover, January 30, 1970
- Creator:
- Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976
- Contributor to Resource:
- Conover, Willis
- Publisher:
- Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia State University Library
- Date of Original:
- 1970-01-30
- Subject:
- Music
Musicians
Lyric writing (Popular music)
Lyricists
Lyrics and lyricists
Paramount Pictures Corporation - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Chatham County, Savannah, 32.08354, -81.09983
United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798 - Medium:
- oral histories (document genres)
interviews
digital audio formats - Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Willis Conover, who was born in Buffalo in 1920, began his career as a radio announcer in Maryland in the early 1940s. In his early twenties he discovered jazz, and after service in the Army during World War II, he became a disc jockey for the only jazzradio program in the city of Washington D.C. In 1955 the Voice of America chose Conover to be the host of a jazz program, a show that attained great popularity both at home and in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. At the height of the Cold War, an estimated 30 million listeners in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union tuned in to the show. Conover continued broadcasting until a few months before his death in 1996. John Herndon Mercer (1909-1976), a native of Savannah, Georgia, began writing songs at the age of fifteen and eventually became one of the foremost figures of 20th century American popular music. His catalog includes many numbers that have become American classics, and his activities as lyricist, composer, performer and businessman span a period of nearly five decades.
In this interview, Mercer and Conover go through Mercer's most famous songs one by one and discuss their origins. Mercer explains his inspirations behind each song, including how he came up with the melodies, lyrics, and titles. He also discusses his personal life, and the impact of his personal experiences on his creative process. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.library.gsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/music/id/1945
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Copyright to items in this collection is owned by Georgia State University Library. Georgia State University Library has made this digital collection available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. Please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ for more information.
- Bibliographic Citation (Cite As):
- Mercer, Johnny interviewed by Willis Conover, January 30, 1970, Johnny Mercer Oral History Project, Popular Music and Culture Collection, Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University
- Original Collection:
- Popular Music and Culture Collection
Johnny Mercer Papers - Holding Institution:
- Georgia State University. Special Collections
- Rights:
-
