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John Wallowitch
(February 11, 1926 - August 15, 2007) USA

John Wallowitch

Songwriter, performer

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John Wallowitch was born in the Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia. He attended Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School, Vare Junior High School, Central High School and Temple University in Philadelphia. Wallowitch spent his youth in a desolate neighborhood in South Philadelphia, dreaming about moving to New York. He finally arrived there in his late teens to study classical piano at Juilliard. In order to survive, he played rehearsal piano for shows.

His first professional appearance was on the Lithuanian Furniture Company Radio Hour (Station WHAT) on which he rendered Irving Berlin's "So Help Me." He displays his predilection for Coward-like wit and satire on such songs as "Cosmetic Surgery", in which he sums up the surgical predilections of friends who are "getting younger than ever" with such dexterity.

"In a matter of weeks
With the modern techniques
For improving physiques
They have altered their beaks
And they've lifted their cheeks
And now everyone speaks
In society's cliques
Of the changes that science has wrought
Of the changes that money has bought!"
He often wrote about growing up in Philadelphia, and of life with his family. "I See the World Through Your Eyes" is a remembrance of Wallowitch's late brother, photographer Edward Wallowitch, close associate of Andy Warhol. "Manhattan, You're A Dream" pays tribute to Wallowitch's mother.

During the 1960s he met three women who would become his greatest champions: singer-pianist Blossom Dearie for whom Wallowitch's song "Bruce" was a favorite standard; Dixie Carter of Designing Women who recorded a collection of Wallowitch songs in 1984; and Joanne Beretta. Wallowitch's compositions have also been recorded by Shirley Horn, Tony Bennett, Berri Blair, John Dubois, Marlene VerPlanck, Lynn Lobban, and many others.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Wallowitch was part of a popular cabaret act with his longtime partner, Bertram Ross. The pair sang in nightspots ranging from London's Pizza on the Park to the Ballroom in New York City. A CD of their performance cabaret, “Wallowitch and Ross” (Miranda Music) was released in 2003 to accompany the documentary film of the couple, "Wallowitch & Ross: This Moment."

John Wallowitch lived and performed in New York City with his longtime partner Bertram Ross, until Ross's death in 2003. Wallowitch died four years later, in New York City. He is buried beside Ross at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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