Victor Young

Prolific American Composer and Violinist

American composer, arranger, conductor, and violinist, working principally in Hollywood motion pictures (August 8, 1900, Chicago, Illinois – November 10, 1956, Palm Springs, California). Victor Young was born into a poor, but musical family. He was educated at the Warsaw Conservatory in Poland. As a teenager, he toured Europe as violinist with the Warsaw Philharmonic, and later gave imperial concerts in Russia. He returned to the United States in 1920, working in Chicago as a violinist, arranger and conductor for radio and theater during the 1920s and 1930s. He arranged many of Bing Crosby's records for Decca, and worked as a songwriter for Broadway musicals and revues. Young joined Paramount studios in 1935 and worked on more than 300 film scores over a period of twenty years. He also wrote many popular songs, such as "Love Letters", "My Foolish Heart", "Stella By Starlight", "Sweet Sue, Just You", "Street of Dreams," and the popular hit "When I Fall In Love," penned with lyricist Edward Heyman.