Al Kasha
Alfred Kasha was an American songwriter, whose songs include "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure and "We May Never Love Like This Again" from The Towering Inferno.
Life
Kasha started songwriting and producing at a young age and was hired as a producer at Columbia Records aged 22. He worked at the Brill Building in 1959 alongside writers and artists like Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Neil Diamond. He worked with many great artists such as Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Charles Aznavour, Bobby Darin, and Jackie Wilson. Kasha is most noted for his years of collaboration with songwriter Joel Hirschhorn. The two wrote and collaborated on many nominated and award-winning songs for many music groups, movies, and musicals. The Peppermint Rainbow's "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" is just one example of the many songs they wrote for groups during their time.Accolades
The songwriting duo twice won the Academy Award for Best Original Song: for "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure in 1973 and "We May Never Love Like This Again" from The Towering Inferno in 1975, both made famous by Maureen McGovern. They also received two more Academy Award nominations for their work in the 1977 Disney film Pete's Dragon, for Best Song Score as well as Best Song.Along with Hirschhorn, Kasha also received two Tony nominations, two Grammy nominations, an Emmy, four Golden Globe nominations, and a People's Choice Award. They also composed the theme song to the short-lived 1990s game show The Challengers.
Later years
Kasha wrote three books: If They Ask You Can Write A Song, ''Notes On Broadway, and his autobiography, Reaching The Morning After.''Kasha was married to Ceil Kasha and had a daughter, Dana Kasha-Cohen. He suffered with Parkinson's disease in his latter years.
Kasha died on September 14, 2020, at the age of 83.
Discography
Singles
- "Sing " Sid Wyche, Al Kasha / "One Of Them" Al Kasha, Hank Hunter 1960