Alex Kramer

Kramer, Alex

Alex (Charles) Kramer. Songwriter, pianist, b Montreal 30 May 1903, d Fairfield, Connecticut, 10 Feb 1998. He studied at the McGill Conservatory, played piano in Montreal movie houses, and conducted orchestras on CFCF and CKAC radio before moving in 1938 to New York. There he coached singers and worked in vaudeville as a pianist and orchestra leader. Kramer and his wife, Joan Whitney (d 1990) wrote approximately 125 songs, often collaborating with Hy Zaret and others. Many of their songs were hits, including 'High on a Windy Hill' (Gower 1940), 'It All Comes Back to Me Now' (Gower 1940), 'My Sister and I' (Gower 1941), 'It's Love, Love, Love!' (Joy 1943), 'Candy' (Leo Feist 1944), 'Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens' (Pickwick 1947), 'Love Somebody' (Kramer-Whitney 1947), 'Far Away Places' (Laurel 1948), and 'No Other Arms, No Other Lips' (Whitney-Kramer-Zaret 1952). Their English version of 'Comme ci, comme ça,' originally a popular French song, was a hit in the late 1940s. Kramer also wrote the closing theme for 'Your Hit Parade,' featured on radio 1935-59. Recordings of some of their songs were made by Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Vic Damone, Jimmy Dorsey, Tony Martin, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Margaret Whiting, and others. "Far Away Places" was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005.

The couple formed the music publishing company Kramer-Whitney in 1947. Kramer served on the board of ASCAP. He was associated with Bourne Music, which bought the rights to many of his songs. Kramer moved to Westport, Connecticut, around 1973.