Here are some lefty composers:

• Carl Philipp Emanuel (CPE) Bach
• Ludwig Van Beethoven
• John Cage
• Cole Porter
• Sergei (or Sergey) Prokofiev
• Sergei (or Sergey)  Rachmaninoff
• Maurice Ravel
• Robert Schumann

Cole (Albert) Porter (1891-1964) is an American composer and songwriter. Unlike most successful Broadway composers, he wrote both the lyrics and the music for his songs. His musicals include Fifty Million Frenchmen, Anything Goes and Can-Can. His numerous hit songs include “Night and Day,” “I Get a Kick out of You” and “I’ve Got You Under my skin.” He also composed scores for films from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre. He achieved success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway.

After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, he continued to work despite constant pain. In 1947 he made a triumphant comeback with his most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate.

If interested for profiles of other classical music composers, please visit Mozart and Classical Music.

 

Lefty Musician Trivia:

There is a belief that the right-brain orientation of lefties makes them more creative.

Some of the most successful lefthanders musicians include Natalie Cole, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Ringo Starr.

Famous Lefthander Birthday, December 25

Singer and songwriter Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on December 1954.  She is a musician and recording artist known for her distinctive contralto voice. She studied classical music at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London.  

She began her recording career as a member of the British pop band The Tourists, and subsequently formed the synth pop duo Eurythmics with former bandmate David A. Stewart.  They gained international fame over the course of the 1980s with singles such as “Her Comes the Rain Again” and “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This.”

Annie Lennox embarked on a solo career in the 1990s. She started with her debut, Diva, in 1992. In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Into the West,” which was written for the original soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.  She released her first compilation album The Annie Lennox Collection, 2009.

Annie Lennox has earned the distinction as the  ‘most successful female British artist in UK music history’ due to her global commercial success since the early 1980s.  Lennox is one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 80 million records.

Famous Lefthander Birthday, November 5

Singer and Songwriter Paul Simon

Famous Lefthander Birthday, October 13

Singer & Songwriter Paul Simon

Image source:  Wikimedia Commons

Famous lefthander birthday, September 19

Songwriter Paul williams

Paul Hamilton Williams is born in Omaha, Nebraska on September 19, 1940. He is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor.

Famous Lefthanded Birthday, August 20

Rock Singer and songwriter Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE, was born in West Bromwich, England on 20 August 1948. He is an English rock singer and songwriter. He is famous as member of the former rock band Led Zeppelin in which he was the lead vocalist and lyricist, and for his successful solo career.

In 2007, he released an album, Raising Sand, with American bluegrass soprano Alison Krauss. It won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Photo source:  Ella Mullins / Wikimedia Commons

Famous Lefthander Birthday, August 8

Actor Keith Carradine

Photo Credit:  Wikimedia Commons

Keith Ian Carradine, is born on August 8, 1949 in San Mateo, California. He is an American actor and an Academy Award-winning songwriter.

Famous Lefthander Birthday, July 28 – Singer, Actor, Bandleader Rudy Vallée

Entertainer Rudy Vallée was an American singer, actor, bandleader. Born Hubert Prior Vallée on July 28, 1901 in Island Pond, Vermont. Both of his parents although born and raised in Vermont, were immigrants, of French Canadian origin from neighboring Quebec, and on his mother’s side, from Ireland. Vallée grew up in Westbrook, Maine.

He performed on Broadway in the show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He also appeared in the film of the same title. He appeared in Batman television show as the character “Lord Marmaduke Fogg” and toured with a one-man theater show into the 1980s. Occasionally, he opened for The Village People.

Rudy Vallee’s song compositions included “Oh! Ma-Ma! (The Butcher Boy)” in 1928, recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, “Deep Night”, which was recorded by Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, “If You Haven’t Got a Girl”, “Old Man Harlem” with Hoagy Carmichael, which was recorded by the Dorsey Brothers band, “I’m Just a Vagabond Lover”, and “Betty Co-Ed.” He died on July 3, 1986, aged 85.

Source: Wikimedia

Lefty Birthday, July 7 – Ringo Starr