Mort Shuman

American songwriter and pianist. Born 12 November 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. Died 2 November 1991 in London, England. Shuman became most famous working together with Doc Pomus. Their collaboration’s output include classic such as Elvis Presley’s Surrender and His Latest Flame, or The Drifters’ Save The Last Dance For Me. He also wrote and sang many songs in French, scoring hits in France and several other European countries. During a stay in Paris, he met Jacques Brel whose songs he adapted in English and made into the Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris musical, together with Eric Blau. His English adaptations of Brel’s songs have been performed by many artists including Scott Walker, David Bowie, Dionne Warwick and The Death Folk.

In the 1960s Shuman moved permanently to Paris, where he embarked on a very successful recording career in French, scoring 6 gold records and 1 genuine popular classic: Le Lac Majeur. He also did many collaborations with the Israeli singer Mike Brant, and composed over 20 film scores, most often for French movies. He also appeared or acted in films. He continued writing material for other artists until his death in 1991. Shuman was awarded with several honours and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2010 (songwriter).