Richard M. Sherman (1928-2024)
Richard M. Sherman, half of the famous Oscar-winning songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers and co-writer of iconic Disney songs such as "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from "Mary Poppins" and the title theme from It's a Small World, died at age 95.
Born in New York City on June 12, 1928, Richard and his brother would go on to follow in the footsteps of their Tin Pan Alley songwriter father, Al Sherman. After years of moving around the country, the Sherman family settled in Beverly Hills in 1937. Richard studied music at Bard College after attending Beverly Hills High School. He joined the United States Army and served in the Army Band and Glee Club from 1953 to 1955. Their success with early tunes like "Gold Can Buy You Anything But Love" and "Tall Paul" caught Walt Disney's eye. Walt would recruit the Sherman Brothers as staff songwriters for his studio, and their first assignment was to write a song for the TV movie "The Horsemasters." They soon collaborated on films such as "The Absent-Minded Professor," "The Parent Trap," "Summer Magic," "The Sword in the Stone," "Mary Poppins," "That Darn Cat!," "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree," "The Jungle Book," "The Happiest Millionaire," "The Aristocats," and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks." They eventually wrote over 200 songs for 27 films and 24 television productions.
The Sherman Brothers wrote some of the most recognisable and popular songs of all time for the Disney theme park rides, including "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," "The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room," and "It's a Small World." They also wrote songs for EPCOT and Tokyo Disneyland. Besides Disney, the Sherman Brothers worked on other movies, including "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," "Snoopy Come Home," "Charlotte's Web," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," "Huckleberry Finn," and "The Skipper and the Rose."
In 1990, Disney honoured both Richard and his brother by naming them as Disney Legends. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and received the National Medal of the Arts in 2008. After Robert died in 2012, Richard kept working. He penned new lyrics for the 2016 live-action remake of "The Jungle Book," wrote three new songs for "Christopher Robin," and composed a new song for the 2023 animated short film "Mushka" by Disney legend Andreas Deja.
In 2023, Richard returned to Walt Disney's office to record a new version of "Feed the Birds" from "Mary Poppins" for "Once Upon a Studio," a short film celebrating the Walt Disney Company's 100th anniversary. Richard and Robert often played the same song for Walt on Friday afternoons.
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