“A song is born in excitement, has a robust life climbing the popularity charts and traveling to the ends of the earth and then, like rare old wine, brings back nothing but sweet memories.” – Johnny Mercer
It’s been said that getting through the day without hearing one Johnny Mercer song is almost impossible—and why would you want to? Georgia’s own Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to over 1,400 songs, including four Academy Award-winners. From the light-hearted “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” and “Jeepers Creepers” to the cinematic “Hooray for Hollywood” and the timeless “Moon River,” Mercer wrote words and music for an American century.
Johnny Mercer at Capitol Records.
Hard-bop trumpeter and vocalist Joe Gransden and beloved blues, jazz, and gospel singer Francine Reed join the Georgia State University Jazz Band’s tribute to Mercer’s incomparable legacy, as they perform a selection of his many hits and new arrangements of some of his unpublished works.
Johnny Mercer with Henry Mancini and Debbie Reynolds on Oscar night.
For more information, and ticket prices (student tickets are only $5), visit the Event Calendar.
This concert is made possible by generous support from The Johnny Mercer Foundation and the Georgia State University Library.
Want to know more? Visit the Johnny Mercer Collection at Special Collections & Archives or contact Kevin Fleming, archivist, Popular Music and Culture Collection, at 404-413-2880 or archives@gsu.edu.
It’s a night you won’t want to miss. We hope to see you there!
