Peter DeRose

Born: March 10, 1900

Died: April 23, 1953

Peter DeRose was a US Hall of Fame composer of jazz and pop music during the Tin Pan Alley era. He is said to have cured for a time in Old Military Estates.

Born in New York City DeRose exhibited a gift for musical as a boy. He had his first song published at the age of eighteen. After finishing high school in 1917, he found a job as a stock room clerk at a music store. The success of his 1920 composition called "When You're Gone, I Won't Forget" led to his being hired by the New York office of the Italian music publisher G. Ricordi & Co.

In 1923 he met ukulele musician May Singhi Breen performing on radio with a female ukulele group known as the "Syncopators." A relationship developed and she left the group to join DeRose in a musical radio show on NBC called the "Sweethearts of the Air" in which he played piano and she performed on the ukulele. The popular show ran for sixteen years during which time the two were married. The show provided them with a good living, and served as a vehicle for the introduction of a number of his compositions.

His songs include Somebody Loves You, Deep Purple, and Have You Ever Been Lonely? Artists who recorded his compositions include John Coltrane, Spike Jones, Art Tatum, Les McCann, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee.

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