Irene Higginbotham

Irene Higginbotham (June 11, 1918 – August 27, 1988) was an American songwriter and concert pianist. She is best known for co-writing the Billie Holiday song "Good Morning Heartache" (1946).

Irene Higginbotham
Background information
Born(1918-06-11)June 11, 1918
Worcester, Massachusetts, United States
DiedAugust 27, 1988(1988-08-27) (aged 70)
New York City
GenresBlues, jazz
Occupation(s)Songwriter, musician
InstrumentsPiano
Years active1930s–1988

Biography

Higginbotham was born on June 11, 1918, in Worcester, Massachusetts.[1] While her closest connection in the popular music of the 1930s and 1940s was Billie Holiday, the prolific songwriter was niece of the classic African-American jazz trombonist J. C. Higginbotham. She was a music student of choral conductor Kemper Harold, of Morehouse College fame, and Frederic Hall. She was also a concert pianist at the age of 15 and joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1944 when she was about 26. She was a composer of nearly 50 published songs. However, because she was an African-American woman who worked as a composer on Tin Pan Alley during a period when composers there were overwhelmingly white and male, some scholars and musicologists have speculated that Higginbotham may have composed many more songs that were never published and/or where she was never given a credit as a composer or co-composer. It is known that she, like a few other composers, used a pseudonym, in her case "Glenn Gibson", in what was probably an effort to conceal the fact that she was female, and an African-American female at that. While Higginbotham remains one of the least well-known or heralded songwriters, her large contributions to jazz and popular song are undeniable.[2][3]

Higginbotham died on August 27, 1988, in New York City.[1]

Works

Her popular-song compositions included:[4]

Also see ASCAP pages for a partial list.[5]

The two Irenes

Irene Higginbotham is not to be confused with Irene Kitchings (1908-1975), who was married to jazz pianist Teddy Wilson for a short time and wrote the jazz standard Some Other Spring.[6]

References
  1. "Irene Higginbotham", The Black Perspective in Music, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Autumn 1988), p. 247.
  2. Ted Gioia, "Five women songwriters who helped shape the sound of jazz", OUP blog, March 12, 2013.
  3. David "Chet" Williamson Sneade, "'Good Morning Heartache'", Worcester Songwriters of the Great American Songbook, December 22, 2012.
  4. Songs Composed by Irene Higginbotham
  5. ASCAP: Songs Composed by Irene Higginbotham
  6. secondhandsongs
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