Donald Heywood

Donald Heywood (October 24, 1896 – January 13, 1967) was a Trinidadian-born American composer, songwriter, writer, director, and performer whose Broadway career spanned from 1928 to 1931. Born in Tunapuna, Trinidad and Tobago, Heywood demonstrated early facility with piano and stringed instruments. His father, a physician, intended for him to pursue medicine, enrolling him at Queens Royal College in Trinidad before sending him to Fisk University in Nashville. After two years at Fisk, Heywood transferred to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to continue medical studies, but his interest in music gradually overtook his academic path. He subsequently relocated to New York City and studied music at Mordkin Moser Conservatory.

Heywood secured his first professional music work in 1923, composing for The North Ain't South, performed at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre. That same year, on August 29, 1923, Rosa Henderson recorded his song "I Want My Sweet Daddy Now" through RCA Victor, with whom Heywood had been working by the early 1920s. Around 1925, he composed the instrumental "Charleston Ball," which was recorded by multiple artists in early 1926, including the Georgia Melodians on January 15, the Six Jumping Jacks on January 27, and the Charles Dornberger Orchestra on February 2. Heywood then composed "I'm Coming Virginia" in collaboration with Will Marion Cook, who contributed the lyrics. Ethel Waters recorded it on September 18, 1926, on the Columbia Records label with Cook's Singing Orchestra and is credited with popularizing the song, though it is sometimes incorrectly attributed to her as composer. Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra featuring Bing Crosby all recorded it in 1927, and Benny Goodman recorded it in 1938. The song became a jazz standard with lasting popularity among Dixieland musicians.

In 1927, Heywood collaborated further with Waters, recording "Keep an Eye on Your Man," "I Want My Sweet Daddy Now," and "Clorinda" with her. On July 11, 1927, both Heywood and Waters made their Broadway debuts with the revue Africana, which Heywood had written. When a replacement was needed for cast member Louis Douglas in a role requiring fluent French — a language Heywood had studied at Fisk and Northwestern — he stepped in to perform as well. "Clorinda" was part of the original score, with "I Want My Sweet Daddy Now" added following the revue's opening performance. Africana ran for 72 performances at the Nederlander Theatre. Also in 1927, Heywood's songs "Mango Lane" and "Susanne" were recorded by Dan Michaels and Hilda Perleno as a duet, with Heywood accompanying on piano, and the Paul Whiteman Orchestra recorded his "Smile" on January 4, 1928. Heywood made regular radio appearances with Perleno on WCGU during 1928 and had established a local radio program of his own by 1929.

His Broadway credits include the revue Blackberries of 1932, the musical Black Rhythm, How Come, Lawd?, the revue Hot Rhythm, and the musical Veils. In 1931, Cab Calloway recorded Heywood's song "Black Rhythm," a parody of stereotypes surrounding black music. That same year, Oscar Micheaux's film The Exile featured Heywood's musical score and his on-screen appearance as "Don Heywood and his Band." Heywood also appeared in Micheaux's Veiled Aristocrats and arranged the music for Ten Minutes to Live, in which he played the role of master of ceremonies.

In the early 1930s, Heywood worked extensively in black musical theater, a genre experiencing a surge in popularity, particularly productions with religious themes. His stage work The Black King, based on the life of Marcus Garvey, found success on Broadway under Léonide Massine, leading Heywood to approach director Bud Pollard about a screen adaptation, which was produced in 1932. He went on to compose film scores for Moon Over Harlem (1939) and Murder on Lenox Avenue (1941), for which he wrote the songs "Trying to Forget," "I'll Get Even With You," and "What You Know About That." Heywood died in New York City on January 13, 1967.