Bobby Short

Robert Waltrip Short was born on September 15, 1924, in Danville, Illinois, where he later attended Danville High School and participated in the school's dramatic club alongside Dick Van Dyke and Donald O'Connor. He left home at age 11 for Chicago with his mother's permission, supporting himself by playing piano in dance halls, saloons, and as a busker. Short died on March 21, 2005, of leukemia at New York Presbyterian Hospital and is buried at Atherton Cemetery in Danville.

Short built his adult musical career in clubs beginning in the 1940s, becoming a celebrated cabaret singer and pianist whose repertoire centered on what he called the "Great American Song." He interpreted the work of composers and lyricists including Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Richard A. Whiting, Vernon Duke, Noël Coward, George and Ira Gershwin, and Rodgers and Hart. He was equally devoted to African-American composers of the same era — among them Eubie Blake, James P. Johnson, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Billy Strayhorn — presenting their work as the natural equal of their white contemporaries rather than as a separate tradition. Short named Ellington, Arlen, and Kern as his favorite songwriters and was instrumental in spearheading the construction of the Ellington Memorial in New York City. He was also a friend of Tom Jobim and was present during the composer's final days in New York City.

Short's Broadway career spanned 1962 to 1972, with credits including Night Life and A Celebration of Richard Rodgers. In 1968 he began a residency at the Café Carlyle in New York City, initially engaged for two weeks to fill in for George Feyer. Accompanied by Beverly Peer on bass and Dick Sheridan on drums, Short remained at the Carlyle as a featured performer for more than 35 years. A 25-song set he performed there in 1979 was released on DVD in 2004 as Bobby Short at the Cafe Carlyle. He announced plans to end his regular Carlyle appearances by the close of 2004 and continued to tour until the end of his life.

Short's work extended into film and television across several decades. In 1972 he performed the theme song for James Ivory's film Savages, and in 1976 he sang and appeared in a Revlon commercial for the perfume "Charlie." He made a cameo on The Love Boat in a two-part episode in 1981 and sang part of the opening theme for the NBC series Misfits of Science in 1985. His film appearances include Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters in 1986, and Allen also used Short's recording of "I Happen to Like New York" for the opening titles of Manhattan Murder Mystery in 1993. In 1991, Short guest-starred as blues musician Ches Collins on In the Heat of the Night, also performing the episode's theme song, and reprised the role in a 1994 episode. He appeared in the Michael J. Fox comedy For Love or Money in 1993, performing Marc Shaiman's "In Your Eyes," and his final film role came in Man of the Century in 1999. In 2001, his voice was featured in the 200th episode of the sitcom Frasier.

Short published two memoirs: Black and White Baby in 1971, an account of his childhood in the dance halls and saloons of Chicago and New York and his family's circumstances following his father's death, and Bobby Short: The Life and Times of a Saloon Singer in 1995, which chronicled his career through the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His discography spans more than two decades of recordings, beginning with Songs by Bobby Short on Atlantic in 1955 and continuing through releases on Telarc and other labels into the 2000s.

In 1983, Short was awarded the Order of Lincoln by the governor of Illinois, the state's highest honor in the performing arts, and was inducted as a Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. In 2000, the Library of Congress designated him a Living Legend as part of its bicentennial celebration. Short adopted his nephew Ronald Bell of San Francisco, the son of his older brother William.