Ray Gilbert

American songwriter, composer and author. Born 5 September 1912 in Hartford, Connecticut Died 3 March 1976 in Los Angeles, California. Married to actress Janis Paige (1962-1976, his death) & father of actress Joanne Gilbert. Active as songwriter since 1940s, he wrote lyrics to many songs for Walt Disney movies. He had 23 songs chart in the U.S. and U.K., nine of them in the top 10. Nineteen of the songs came between 1944 and 1968, the rest between 2003-4.His top-selling song was You Belong to My Heart (lyrics by Agustin Lara). The song first charted in 1944 by Phil Brito (#17) then charted three times in 1945, first by Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra (#6), then by Xavier Cugat and His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra (#3), and finally by Bing Crosby and Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra (#3). His next best known song is Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (lyrics by Allie Wrubel) which charted four times, three in 1946-7 by Johnny Mercer, Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye, and The Modernaires with Paula Kelly (all in the top 11). It also charted in 1962 by Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans (#8). His other big song was Cuanto Le Gusta (lyrics by Gabriel Ruiz), which charted by four different artists in 1948-9. He won an Academy award for "Best Original Song" with lyricist Allie Wrubel, for "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", for Song of the South (1946). Gilbert has also translated many of Antonio Carlos Jobim's (and other Latin-American artists) songs into English. His music publishing: Ipanema Music, Ipanema Music Co., Ipanema Music Corp. and Ipanema Music Ltd was inherited and has been managed by his wife after his death.