Ben Weisman, songwriter for Elvis Presley, dead at 85 in Los Angeles
Weisman, who had Alzheimer's disease and suffered a stroke last month, died Sunday at a long-term care hospital in Los Angeles, said Barbara Gleicher of New York, who is married to Weisman's nephew.
Weisman, whom Presley dubbed "the mad professor," wrote or co-wrote a string of gold- and platinum-selling songs for Presley, including "Follow That Dream" and "Fame and Fortune."
His songs include "Wooden Heart" for the movie "G.I. Blues," "Rock-a-Hula Baby" for "Blue Hawaii" and "Crawfish" for "King Creole."
"Whenever there was a movie (for Elvis) coming up they would call him up and say, 'We need one for, uh, the clam dance,"' Gleicher said.
He also wrote for other pop stars, including Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Vee and the Beatles.
Born Nov. 16, 1921, in Providence, R.I., Weisman was raised in Brooklyn. He studied classical piano as a teenager and at the Juilliard School of Music.
He began writing for Presley in 1956 at the request of his music publisher, Jean Aberbach.
Ben Weisman, composer/co-writer of more than 50 songs for Elvis Presley, died on May 20th at the age of 85 after a long illness. Among those Elvis songs are:
As Long As I Have You
Change Of Habit
Cindy, Cindy
Don't Leave Me Now
Fame And Fortune
Follow That Dream
Frankie and Johnny
Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do
I Got Lucky
I'll Never Know, I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell
It Feels So Right, Let Us Pray
Rock-a-Hula Baby
Rubberneckin'
Twenty Days And Twenty Nights
We Call On Him
Wooden Heart
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Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.
