(b London, 21 June 1938). English lyricist. In the 1950s his various jobs included that of a writer for the New Musical Express, a performer in the rapidly declining variety theatres (billed under such titles as ‘Donald Black, the young gangster’ and ‘Don Black, a living joke’) and a song-plugger. He began writing song lyrics in the mid-1950s, gaining success in the 1960s when Matt Monroe recorded his April Fool and Walk away, Black’s English version of the German Eurovision song contest entry Warum nur warum. Beginning with the James Bond film Thunderball (1965) he worked with the composer John Barry on many title songs for films, including Diamonds are Forever (1971), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and Born Free (1966), for which Black received an Academy Award. Further collaborations with Barry include the musicals Billy (1974) and The Little Prince and the Aviator (1982), he has also worked with Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, Quincy Jones, Maurice Jarre and Ron Grainer. Other notable title songs for films include To Sir with Love (1967, with Mark London) and True Grit (1969, with Elmer Bernstein), while he provided Michael Jackson with the pop hit Ben (1972, with Walter Scharf ). He worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday (1980; later incorporated into the theatrical evening Song and Dance, 1982), Aspects of Love (1989) and Sunset Boulevard (1993). In these last two works Black’s direct style that creates strong poetic images from deceptively simple language was hampered by the prosaic needs of narrative in a sung-through structure.
(selective list)
composers in parentheses
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Musicals (dates those of first London performance unless otherwise stated): Maybe that’s your Problem (W. Scharf), Roundhouse,16 June 1970; Billy (J. Barry), Drury Lane, 1 May 1974 [incl. Some of us belong to the stars]; Bar Mitvah Boy (J. Styne), Her Majesty’s, 25 Sept 1978; Tell Me on a Sunday (A. Lloyd Webber), Royalty, Jan 1980, rev. as Song and Dance, 1982; The Little Prince and the Aviator (Barry), New York, Alvin, 1 Jan 1982; Dear Anyone (G. Stephens), Cambridge Theatre, 9 Sept 1983; Merlin (E. Bernstein), New York, Mark Hellinger, 13 Feb 1983; Budgie (M. Shuman), Cambridge Theatre, 18 Oct 1988; Aspects of Love (Lloyd Webber), Prince of Wales, 17 April 1989 [incl. Love changes everything; collab C. Hart]; Sunset Boulevard (Lloyd Webber), Adelphi, 12 July 1993 [incl. With One Look; collab C. Hampton] |
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c100 songs for films (title songs unless otherwise stated), incl. Thunderball (Barry, 1965); Born Free (Barry, 1966); Pretty Polly (M. Legrand, 1967); To Sir with Love (M. London, 1967); On Days like These (Q. Jones; The Italian Job, 1969); True Grit (Bernstein, 1969); Diamonds are forever (Barry, 1971); Wish was Then (Barry; Mary Queen of Scots, 1971); The Man with the Golden Gun (Barry, 1974); Play it again (Barry; The Tamarind Seed, 1974); Wherever Love Takes Me (Bernstein; Gold, 1974); All the Wishing in the World (S. Myers; The Wilby Conspiracy, 1975); Come to me (H. Mancini; The Pink Panther Strikes Again, 1976) |
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Individual popular songs, incl. Ben (Scharf), 1972; Always There (S. May and L. Osborn), 1986; Amigos para siempre (Lloyd Webber), 1994 [anthem for the Barcelona Olympic Games] |
GänzlBMT; GänzlEMT
M. Steyn: Broadway Babies Say Goodnight: Musicals Then and Now (London, 1997)