Alberta Nichols

Alberta Nichols (December 3, 1898 – February 4, 1957) was a Broadway composer, book writer, and popular songwriter born in Lincoln, Illinois. She studied piano at the Louisville Conservatory under George Copeland and Alfred Calzin, and her career extended across vaudeville, radio, musical theater, and film.

Nichols worked in close collaboration with her husband, lyricist Mann Holiner, and together the pair composed more than 100 songs. Her Broadway credits include the 1926 revue Gay Paree, the revue Blackbirds of 1928, and the revue Hey Nonny Nonny!, as well as Angela, a production that starred Jeanette MacDonald. Songs written for Angela include "I Can't Believe It's True," "Maybe So," and "The Regal Romp." In 1931, Nichols and Holiner joined Sammy Cahn, Saul Chaplin, and L.E. Freeman to create Rhapsody in Black. The same five collaborators also co-wrote "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," and music scholar Alec Wilder, writing in American Popular Song, speculated that Nichols was the composer of the melody. Billie Holiday, a close friend of the Nichols-Holiner household, recorded the song in 1942. Nichols and Holiner also contributed music to Blackbirds of 1933.

The Nichols-Holiner team wrote songs for film as well. "A Love Like Ours," which critic Virginia Grattan considered among the duo's finest work, appeared in the 1944 film Two Girls and a Sailor, starring Van Johnson and June Allyson. Additional songs from the partnership include "There Never Was a Town like Paris," "Sing a Little Tune," "You Can't Stop Me from Loving You," and "Why Shouldn't It Happen to Us?," the last of which was published in 1945 and recorded by Frank Sinatra.

Nichols died in Hollywood on February 4, 1957, at the age of 58.