Jimmy Van Heusen wrote 76 songs for Frank Sinatra, won four Academy Awards, and shaped the sound of American popular music for three decades — all starting from a radio station in Syracuse, New York. Born Edward Chester Babcock on January 26, 1913, in Syracuse, Van Heusen began writing songs in high school and had his own radio program on a local Syracuse station by age sixteen, adopting his stage name from the Van Heusen shirt company.
Syracuse to Tin Pan Alley
Van Heusen studied music at Cazenovia College and Syracuse University before moving to New York City in 1933. His early career moved quickly: by 1938, he had partnered with lyricist Eddie DeLange, producing nearly twenty hits including “All This and Heaven Too” and “Shake Down the Stars.” But it was his partnership with lyricist Johnny Burke, beginning in 1939, that established him as a first-tier composer.
The Burke Years
Van Heusen and Burke moved to Hollywood in 1940 under a Paramount Pictures contract and wrote for over thirty films and Broadway shows. Their output included “Polka Dots and Moonbeams,” “Moonlight Becomes You,” “Sunday, Monday, or Always,” “Aren’t You Glad You’re You?” and the Academy Award-winning “Swinging on a Star” (1944). The partnership lasted until 1956 and produced some of the most enduring melodies of the American Songbook.
The Sinatra Years
When Burke’s health declined, Van Heusen found his definitive collaborator in lyricist Sammy Cahn. Together, they became Frank Sinatra’s personal songwriting team, crafting material that defined the Chairman’s swinging persona. “The Tender Trap,” “Come Fly with Me,” “All the Way,” “High Hopes,” and “Call Me Irresponsible” — these songs did not merely accompany Sinatra’s career; they were its architecture. Sinatra ultimately recorded 76 Van Heusen compositions, more than any other songwriter’s work in his catalog.
Four Oscars
Van Heusen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song four times — for “Swinging on a Star” (1944), “All the Way” (1957), “High Hopes” (1959), and “Call Me Irresponsible” (1963). He received fourteen Oscar nominations total. He also won an Emmy Award in 1956 for “Love and Marriage,” another Sinatra standard.
Van Heusen’s deep friendship with Sinatra went beyond professional collaboration. He was part of the singer’s inner circle, a confidant and companion during the Rat Pack era. He died on February 6, 1990, in Rancho Mirage, California. Syracuse claims many distinguished sons, but few whose work has been hummed, whistled, and sung by more people around the world than Jimmy Van Heusen’s.