Robert Mersey

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"Bob Mersey" redirects here. "Bob Mersey" was also one of the pseudonyms of Finnish singer Irwin Goodman.

Robert David Mirsky (April 7, 1917 – December 14, 1994), known as Robert Mersey,[1] was an American musician, arranger, and record producer.

Life and career

In the 1950s, Mersey worked as an arranger with

Leiber and Stoller.[2][3] In 1959, he recorded "Tracy's Theme", an instrumental written by Robert Ascher which was used in a new NBC production of The Philadelphia Story. The production company thought the tune had hit potential, so they worked out a deal with Columbia Records to issue it as a single. However, Mersey was under contract with the new Big Top label as its musical director and had already released a single, "Bittersweet September," on the label. Devon Music, the publishing firm of Talent Associates owned by David Susskind and Howie Richmond at the time, created a fictitious artist named Spencer Ross, and retained ownership of the pseudonym for potential future use. Mersey's recording, under the pseudonym "Spencer Ross", peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. After "Tracy's Theme" became a hit, Mersey received permission to use the name Spencer Ross on his next Big Top single, "Theme of a Lonely Evening", but after that, the rights to the Ross name reverted to Devon Music.[4]

Mersey married English lyricist

CBS Television and films, and produced several albums of incidental music, including Great Jazz from Great TV, credited to "Det Moor".[8]

He died in

Baltimore, Maryland
, at the age of 77.

References

  1. ^ "Robert D Mirsky - U.S. Social Security Death Index (SSDI) - MyHeritage". Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2016-04-17.
  2. ISBN 9780857122162
    . Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Google Books.
  3. ISBN 9781461661030
    . Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Bob Mersey to Big Top" (PDF). Billboard. March 28, 1960. p. 17. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
  5. ISBN 9781311441546
    . Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Robert Mersey at 45cat.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014
  7. ^ Credits at Allmusic.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014
  8. ^ a b Bob Mersey at SpaceAgePop.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014
  9. ISBN 9780307420879
    . Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Google Books.
  10. ISBN 9780823936397
    . Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Google Books.
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