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Cole Porter music biography continued...

in Peru, Indiana, Porter learned to play the violin and piano and at a young age and wrote his first tune 'Song of the Birds', by the age of ten. Later, studying at Yale, he wrote two of the Ivy League university's most popular fight songs—"Bull Dog" and "Bingo Eg Tale." Moving to France after the relative failure of his first show, 'See America First', he worked on his songwriting. He had his first hit with 'An Old Fashioned Garden', from the show 'Hitchy Koo', in 1919. He also married the wealthy and beautiful Linda Lee Thomas, but rumors of his homosexuality haunted them until her death. After writing the score for 'Within the Quota', a jazz ballet in 1923, he decided to move to New York, and, in 1928, debuted on Broadway with 'Paris', including the songs "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love". This was followed by 'Fifty Million Frenchmen', which featured "You Do Something To Me" and "You've Got That Thing." Throughout the thirties Porter went on a tremendous role, reeling off Broadway hits for such shows as 'The New Yorkers', 'Gay Divorcee', 'Jubilee', and 'Dubarry was a Lady'. He also wrote the scores for many Hollywood movies, such as 'Rosalie' and 'Born to Dance'. After a near fatal horseback riding accident, Porter returned to Broadway in 1948 with his greatest hit--'Kiss Me Kate'-- followed by another stunning success-- 'Anything Goes'. Despite the accident, he had also continued to work in Hollywood, writing the scores for two Fred Astaire movies, Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), which featured "I Concentrate On You," and "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941). From the East Coast to the West Coast, Porter was celebrated as a major American talent.



Porter later wrote the songs for the Gene Kelly/Judy Garland musical The Pirate (1948). High Society (1956), starring Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly, had Porter's last major hit, "True Love." But Porter continued to compose until his death on October 15, 1964 of kidney failure. Judy Garland performed a medley of Porter's songs at the 37th Academy Awards, the first Oscars ceremony held following Porter's death, and since then, the tributes have continued to pour in for a composer/lyricist who was clearly without peer.