Known for Mama Don't Want No Peas and Rice and Coconut Oil, Shades of Night, Hitchy Koo, and many other songs.
He started out singing in a quartet at a small cafe in Coney Island.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
He lived in Beverly Hills with his second wife Rose.
He collaborated with Mabel Wayne and Lewis F. Muir.
