Richard M. Sherman (1928-2024)
Richard M. Sherman, half of the famous Oscar-winning songwriting duo the Sherman Brothers and co-writer of such iconic Disney songs like "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" for "Mary Poppins" and the title theme from It's a Small World, has passed away at the age of 95.
Born in New York City on 12th June 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 was a student at Beverly Hills High School before his studies in music at Bard College. He joined the United States Army, and from 1953 to 1955, he conducted the Army Band and Glee Club. Their success with early tunes like "Gold Can Buy You Anything But Love" and "Tall Paul" caught the eye of Walt Disney. 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". Shortly after, they would collaborate on such movies 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". For some 27 films and 24 television productions, they would eventually write more than 200 songs.
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. In addition to 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, both Richard and his brother were named Disney legends. They were honoured with induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and the National Medal of the Arts in 2008. When Robert died in 2012, Richard continued to work. 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 animated short film "Mushka" by Disney legend Andreas Deja in 2023.
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", the short film celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. Richard and Robert often played the same song for Walt on Friday afternoons.
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