Mann was able to play the piano by ear, at the age of four, and by 13, he was playing around Philadelphia. He attended the
Curtis Institute of Music. In late 1939, Mann moved to
New York and became a
Decca Records session musician. He was in Charley Spivak's
orchestra until 1941. During World War II, Mann joined the United States Army. Upon his discharge from the Army in 1945, they had the honor of placing Mann as personal
pianist to
President Truman. Mann worked on or appeared in the
films:
Twenty Grand,
I Dood It,
Four Jills and a Jeep,
Pin-Up Girl, and, during his Artie Shaw days,
Second Chorus. Mann wrote the song "Somebody Bad Stole de Wedding Bell", recorded by
Eartha Kitt between 1952 and 1954. The song was released as a
B-side to her 1954 non-album single
"Lovin' Spree". As a B-side to "Lovin' Spree", the single charted at number 20 on the current
US Billboard music chart. Later, in 2006, the song was released as a
CD bonus track to her album
That Bad Eartha. His most enduring composition was "
In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning", written with
Bob Hilliard. The song has over 500 cover versions to its credit, over 100 available today on iTunes. "No Moon At All," written with lyricist
Redd Evans, which follows the baroque chord changes of Bach's
Double Violin Concerto. One of Mann's hits "There I've Said it Again"—the
Bobby Vinton version of 1963—was the last chart-topper in the United States before the
British Invasion. It was knocked off the top spot by
the Beatles' song "
I Want to Hold Your Hand". Thereafter, his songwriting career was replaced by journalism, writing an op-ed for
The Suburban Trends, a local New Jersey newspaper, for 32 years until his death. David Mann died in March 2002 from complications due to
pneumonia and
kidney failure. ==See also==