Harold Weeks
Also known asH. Taylor Weeks
BornMarch 28, 1893
Eagle Grove, Iowa[1]
DiedJanuary 7, 1967(1967-01-07) (aged 73)
GenresJazz
Occupation(s)Composer, songwriter, lyricist

Harold Taylor Weeks (March 28, 1893 – January 7, 1967)[1] was an American jazz musician and composer from Seattle, Washington.

Biography

Weeks was born in Iowa,[2] but is usually associated with Seattle, Washington where he grew up and attended Queen Anne High School, where he became a nationally recognized ragtime composer by his junior year performing under the name H. Taylor Weeks.[1][3] He then attended the University of Washington.[1]

He is best known for his 1918 song "Hindustan", written with Oliver Wallace, which sold over one million copies and was widely played by dance orchestras and is today considered a jazz standard.[4][3] The most notable version of the song was performed by the Joseph C. Smith orchestra.[5] Other notable compositions included "Seattle Town", "No Fair Falling in Love", "My Honolulu Bride",[6] "Ada" (with Victor Aloysius Meyers and Danny Cann), and "Isle of Dreams" (with Meyers and Wallace).[7] He composed more than forty popular songs and was considered one of Seattle's most prolific composers.[1]

Weeks was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the National Temperance League.[6] He was a Christian and was actively involved with the Christian Science movement, including serving as a trustee for his church: Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle.[3] The church building later became Town Hall Seattle.[6]

Weeks died in 1967. His correspondence, writings, sheet music, scrapbook, and phonograph records can be found at the University of Washington’s Special Collections library.[6][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Smith, Merle Irene. (1989) Seattle had a Tin Pan Alley, too!. p. 57. M.I. Smith.
  2. ↑ Harold T Weeks in the 1940 Census. ancestry.com
  3. 1 2 3 Safronoff, Cindy Peyser. Dedication: Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy's Church, A Centennial Story - Part 1: 1889 to 1929. (p. 263). this one thing. Kindle Edition.
  4. ↑ Smith, Merle Irene. (1989) Seattle had a Tin Pan Alley, too!. p. 51. M.I. Smith.
  5. ↑ Harold Weeks. Discography of American Historical Recordings.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Jonathan Shipley (November 15, 2018) "Celebrating Harold Weeks with Some Ragtime Ditties". Town Hall Seattle.
  7. ↑ Don Duncan, Musical Tribute To Vic Meyers: Public Servant And Funny Guy, Seattle Times, April 9, 1990.
  8. ↑ Harold Weeks papers, 1910-1966. Archives West: Orbis Cascade.

Media related to Harold Weeks at Wikimedia Commons

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