Churchill Kohlman
Churchill Kohlman (January 28, 1906 – May 25, 1983) was an African-American songwriter who wrote Johnnie Ray's 1951 hit, "Cry" while working in a Pittsburgh dry cleaning factory as the night watchman.[1][2]
Royalties from "Cry" were the subject of a bitter legal dispute between Kohlman and Perry Alexander, owner of music publisher Mellow Music. Alexander was ordered by arbitrators to pay Kohlman $15,331.24 to settle the dispute in 1953.[3]
Kohlman wrote hundreds of other songs, but none achieved the success of "Cry".
Churchill had the following siblings: Homer Kohlman (1907–1985); and Alyse Kohlman Klaytor. After his success with "Cry", he was a correspondent for Prevue, a Chicago-based show-business magazine. He married Viola (1915–1995) and had the following children: Phyllis Kohlman O'Leary and Eleanor Kohlman Smith; and Carl Kohlman. He died under the name Charles Kohlman of a heart attack in 1983, at 77 years old, in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His grave is at Homewood Cemetery in Point Breeze.[4]
Popular culture
- The Johnnie Ray version of "Cry" was used in the 1987 Ridley Scott film, Someone to Watch Over Me.
Other versions
- Kevin Coyne recorded a version of the song for his 1978 album Dynamite Daze.
References
- ↑ http://www.americanprofile.com/article/30853.html American Profile article
- ↑ Jet, February 14, 1952, p. 56-7
- ↑ Billboard, March 7, 1953, p. 16
- ↑ "Churchill Kohlman, 1906-1983". The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund. 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2015.