Churchill Kohlman

Biography

Churchill Kohlman (January 28, 1906 – May 25, 1983) was an African American songwriter who wrote Johnnie Ray's 1951 hit, "Cry" while working in a Pittsburgh dry cleaning factory as the night watchman. He would visit the local piano teacher, Margaret McClintock, to transcibe his ideas.

Royalties from "Cry" were the subject of a bitter legal dispute between Kohlman and Perry Alexander, owner of music publisher Mellow Music. Alexander was ordered by arbitrators to pay Kohlman $15,331.24 to settle the dispute in 1953.

Kohlman wrote hundreds of other songs, but none achieved the success of "Cry".

Churchill had the following siblings: Homer Kohlman (1907–1985); and Alyse Kohlman Klaytor. After his success with "Cry", he was a correspondent for Prevue, a Chicago-based show-business magazine. He married Viola (1915–1995) and had the following children: Phyllis Kohlman O'Leary and Eleanor Kohlman Smith; and Carl Kohlman. He died under the name Charles Kohlman of a heart attack in 1983, at 77 years old, in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh. His grave is at Homewood Cemetery in Point Breeze.

Biography excerpt from Wikipedia contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Formatting and reference markers have been removed; the introduction may be shortened. View contributors and article history.

Source revision used for this excerpt