23 Facts About Bobby Short

Robert Waltrip Short was an American cabaret singer and pianist, who interpreted songs by popular composers from the first half of the 20th century such as Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Richard A Whiting, Vernon Duke, Noel Coward and George and Ira Gershwin.

Bobby Short stated his favorite songwriters were Ellington, Arlen and Kern, and he was instrumental in spearheading the construction of the Ellington Memorial in New York City.

Bobby Short was a friend of Tom Jobim and was present during the composer's final days in New York City.

Bobby Short began performing piano in dance halls and saloons, and as a busker, after leaving home at age 11 for Chicago with his mother's permission.

Bobby Short began his adult musical career in clubs in the 1940s.

Bobby Short became an institution at the Carlyle, as Feyer had been before him, and remained there as a featured performer for more than 35 years.

Bobby Short often performed impromptu all-night sets at his various favorite cafes and restaurants.

Bobby Short was a regular patron at Ted Hook's Backstage, at Eighth Avenue and 45th Street.

In 1971 Bobby Short published Black and White Baby, a brilliant description of his childhood upbringing in the dance halls and saloons of Chicago and New York, and his family's fight for survival after the death of his father.

Bobby Short followed with Bobby Short: The Life and Times of a Saloon Singer in 1995, chronicling his career into the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Bobby Short continued his career in the 1970s and 1980s singing for films and television.

In 1976, Bobby Short sang and appeared in a commercial for Revlon's perfume "Charlie".

Bobby Short continued working in films when, in 1986, he appeared in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters.

Allen used Bobby Short's recording of "I Happen to Like New York" for the opening title of Manhattan Murder Mystery.

In 1991, Bobby Short made a guest appearance as blues musician Ches Collins on the TV series In the Heat of the Night in the episode "Sweet, Sweet Blues".

Bobby Short reprised the role in the 1994 episode "Ches and the Grand Lady".

In 2000, the Library of Congress designated Bobby Short a Living Legend, a recognition established as part of its bicentennial celebration.

In 2004, Bobby Short announced plans to end his regular appearances at the Cafe Carlyle by the end of the year.

Bobby Short continued to tour and travel until the end of his life.

Bobby Short was inducted as a Laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois and in 1983 was awarded the Order of Lincoln by the governor of Illinois in the area of performing arts.

Bobby Short adopted Ronald Bell, of San Francisco, who was the son of Bobby Short's older brother William.

On March 21,2005, Bobby Short died of leukemia at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Bobby Short is buried in Atherton Cemetery in Danville, Illinois, the city of his birth.