Hamilton H. Gilkyson III
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Singer-songwriter
Hamilton H. ``Terry'' Gilkyson III,
who wrote an eclectic range of music spanning
folk to calypso to Disney
animation, died Friday. He was 83.
Gilkyson's 1968 song, ``The Bare Necessities,''
for Disney's ``Jungle Book,''
was nominated for an Academy Award.
During the 1960s, he wrote a song a week
for ``The Wonderful World of
Disney'' television show and later wrote
theme songs for Disney movies
including ``The Swiss Family Robinson,''
``Thomasina'' and ``The
Aristocats.''
Gilkyson songs were recorded by Johnny
Cash, Tony Bennett, The Kingston Trio,
Mitch Miller, Spike Jones, Marlene Dietrich,
Doris Day, Harry Connick Jr. and
Louis Armstrong.
He also co-wrote with his group, Terry
Gilkyson and the Easy Riders, such
classics as ``Everybody Loves Saturday
Night,'' ``Marianne,'' ``The Sea is
Green'' and ``Memories are Made of This,''
the hit recorded by Dean Martin.
``Greenfield,'' recorded by The Brothers
Four, was a Top 10 hit in 1960.
Born in Mont Clare, Pa., Gilkyson served
in the Army Air Corps during World
War II and broadcast for Armed Forces
Radio as a folk singer.
After the war, Gilkyson moved to Los Angeles
to pursue a songwriting career.
His first hit was the 1950 ``Cry of the
Wild Goose,'' recorded by Frankie
Laine.
He recorded five albums with the Easy Riders.
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Folk Singer/Songwriter Terry Gilkyson Dies At 83
Terry Gilkyson, whose long songwriting career
included the Academy Award-nominated hit
"The Bare Necessities" from Walt Disney film
The Jungle Book, died Friday (Oct. 15) at age
83 in Austin, Texas.
In a musical career that spanned over four
decades, Gilkyson penned Dean Martin's 1955
No. 1 record "Memories Are Made Of This,"
plus top 10 hits for Frankie Laine and the
Brothers Four. A wide-ranging group of artists
recorded Gilkyson's songs, including Tony
Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr.,
the Kingston Trio, Johnny Cash, Spike Jones,
and many more.
Born Hamilton H. Gilkyson III in Phoenixville,
Pa., but nicknamed Terry, his earliest musical
ventures included singing folk songs on Armed
Forces Radio during World War II, after
enlisting in the Army Air Corps. In the late
1940s, Gilkyson moved to Los Angeles, where
he recorded his song, "Cry Of The Wild Goose."
It became a hit when covered by Laine in
1950. Gilkyson also sang on the Weavers' 1951
folk hit "On Top Of Old Smoky."
With his folk group the Easy Riders (which
included fellow singers Frank Miller and Richard
Dehr), he composed many of his best-known
songs, including "Everybody Loves Saturday
Night," "Marianne" (adapted from a Bahamian
folk melody), "The Sea Is Green," and the song
"Greenfield," which put the Brothers Four at
the top of the charts in 1960.
In the 1960s, Gilkyson wrote songs for various
Walt Disney projects, at one point turning out
a song a week for the TV program The
Wonderful World Of Disney. Gilkyson wrote all
the songs to Disney's 1967 animated feature
The Jungle Book, but his songs were scrapped
in favor of a new score by Disney stalwarts
Richard and Robert Sherman. Only one
Gilkyson song remained in the completed film,
"The Bare Necessities." It proved the movie's
best-loved song, and garnered an Academy
Award nomination that year.
Terry Gilkyson's children Nancy, Eliza and Tony
have all been involved in music, with Eliza a
folksinger and Tony having performed with
such Los Angeles bands as X and Lone
Justice.
-- Drew Wheeler
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