|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZHOWARD, Don(b Donald Howard Koplow, 11 May '35, Cleveland OH) A 17-year- old in high school who had a fluke hit, a million-selling no. 4 USA '52-3. He heard "Oh Happy Day' sung by a girl friend and copyrighted it; a demo was played on the air locally, then leased to the Essex label: a happy tune given a treatment by Howard which can only be described as sepulchral, the record was a runaway novelty. Nancy Binns Reed came forward to claim authorship; she had written the song while a counselor at a girls' camp where Howard's friend heard it, and the royalties were shared. |