Chester Conn


Chester Conn was an American composer of popular music and music publisher.

Early life and career

Chester was born in San Francisco, California to David Cohn and Minnie . At an early age, Chester was raised by his mother, who had become a widow sometime before 1900. In 1918, Cohn was working for Broadway Music Corp in New York. In 1922, Cohn was working for Leo Feist, Inc., in its Chicago office. In 1937, Conn co-founded the New York music publishing of Bregman, Vocco & Conn, Inc.. The other name partners were Jack Bregman and Rocco Vocco. Chester Conn's only child, a son, Jack D. Conn, had been an executive at BVC. Given that Bregman, Vocco, and Jack Conn all predeceased Chester, Chester sold the firm in May 1967 to 20th Century Fox for 4.5 million dollars in cash.
He died in Flushing, Queens.

Selected works

Conn's best-known song is the jazz standard "Sunday". The Jazz Discography Online, as of June 2017, lists 497 recording sessions for "Sunday" – from 1926 to 2015. Other songs include "My Suppressed Desire", "Outside of Heaven", "Just Like Before", "I Don't Think You Love Me Anymore", "Make Her Mine", "Forgive My Heart",
"Night Lights", "It's None of My Affair", "Time To Go Home", "Blue Waltz ", "Anything I Do", "Oh Well", and "Because You Lied."

Other works

  • "What'll You Do?"
  • "You Don't Like It, Not Much"
  • "Why Should I Cry Over You"
  • "Crying for You"
  • "Don't Mind the Rain"
  • "The Talk of the Town"
  • "So Close to Me"
  • "Sicilian Tarantella"
  • "I'll Never Know Why"
  • "Will o' the Wisp Romance"
  • "That's You"
  • "The Right Thing To Say"

    Performers of Conn's work

The performers who have recorded Conn's songs include Nat King Cole, John Coltrane, Eddie Fisher, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Carmen McRae, Gerry Mulligan, Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Clark Terry, and Ben Webster, Lester Young.

Death

Chester Conn died of a heart attack on April 4, 1973 while at the Aqueduct Racetrack. Conn was survived by his wife, Grace , whom he married on May 1, 1921, in Chicago. He was also survived by his daughter-in-law, Ella Conn , and a grandson, Brian Conn. Ella Conn was an aunt to Gary Nardino, a notable Hollywood TV and film director, producer, and industry executive.

General references

  • by Sandra Burlingame, ''''

    Original copyrights

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Library of Congress, Copyright Office

Other inline citations