Robert Allen

Traditional pop composer Robert Allen wrote a number of classic tunes with lyricist Al Stillman during the 1950s. Allen was born in Troy, NY, and chose a music career over an engineering scholarship, working as a jazz pianist around N.Y.C. before taking up songwriting. Some of his earlier songs include "Noodlin' Rag" (1952), composed with Allan Roberts, and "You Are Never Far Away From Me," recorded by Perry Como. Allen and Stillman enjoyed their first successes in 1955, which brought the Four Lads' hit "Moments to Remember" and the oft-recorded Christmas favorite "Home for the Holidays." "No, Not Much" and "Fate" came the following year. But 1957 was the year for two of the most successful songs Allen or Stillman ever wrote: "It's Not for Me to Say" and "Chances Are," two standards for both pop and jazz vocalists, such as Johnny Mathis and Billie Holiday. Allen and Stillman had their final hits in 1958, including "Enchanted Island," "There's Only One of You" (both recorded by the Four Lads), and another Top 40 for Mathis, "Teacher, Teacher." Other songs credited to the duo include "My One and Only Heart" and the fight song for Auburn University in Alabama, "War Eagle." Composer Robert Allen was 73 when he died from colon cancer in his New York home on October 1, 2000. ~ Joslyn Layne