Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music PDF
Preview Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music
Killing Me Softly Copyright © 1972 by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel Killing Me Softly My Life in Music Charles Fox Foreword by Roberta Flack THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC. Lanham (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK 2010 Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.scarecrowpress.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2010 by Charles Fox All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fox, Charles, 1940– Killing me softly : my life in music / Charles Fox. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-8108-6991-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Fox, Charles, 1940– 2. Composers—United States—Biography. I. Title. ML410.F793A3 2010 780.92—dc22 [B] 2010006259 (cid:2)™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America For Joan, and the journey we traveled together hand in hand. Contents Foreword by Roberta Flack ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Prelude: The Bronx, 1958 1 Letters from Paris, 1959–1961 15 New York, 1961–1967 101 Hollywood, 1968–Present 147 Index 283 About the Author 293 vii Foreword T his book is a very interesting tale of Charles Fox’s pursuit of music. All of us who travel this same path know the story well—that is what makes us unique; that is what makes us different. Those who stand on the outside, looking “in” at the lives of musical geniuses like Charles Fox, will wonder with amazement at the discovery of the phrase “Killing Me Softly with His Song.” It is in the book. I have always maintained that the greatest musicians, historically, are surrounded by an aura of innocence: Mozart, Donny Hathaway, Chopin, Stevie Wonder, Beethoven, Johnny Cash, Puccini, Verdi, Charles Fox . . . a very broad group of artists, a very long list, all of whom share a common thread in that they seem completely unaware of the depth of their greatness and the extent to which their work, their music, their musical thought affects the lives of everyone. When Charles Fox gets a call from a very young Steven Spielberg telling him that he hears “Killing Me Softly” on every station of his radio, every day, all day, and how much he loves the song, Fox is curious. First of all, he does not know this young director until someone schools him a little later on. His response is pure honesty, and of course, he’d be happy to do anything—score any film with Steven Spielberg. For he too is amazed that every time he gets into his car, every radio button he presses is playing this same song. I had been to California to record a television tribute to Duke Elling- ton, “Duke Ellington, We Love You Madly,” produced by Quincy Jones. I was full of incredible, overwhelming excitement, grinning from ear to ear. I finished that project, which had given me the privilege of singing, by myself, Duke’s songs, as well as the honor of performing songs with Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughan, and Aretha Franklin. How absolutely thrilling. Nothing could ix
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