Turner Layton was an American composer and songwriter active primarily in the 1910s and 1920s, best known for writing the music to songs that became enduring jazz and pop standards. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1894, he composed almost exclusively in partnership with lyricist Henry Creamer, producing dozens of songs rooted in Tin Pan Alley and early jazz idioms. Their most famous collaboration, After You've Gone, was published in 1918 and became a million-seller for Sophie Tucker before entering the permanent jazz repertoire, recorded by hundreds of artists across decades. Other notable Creamer-Layton songs include Way Down Yonder in New Orleans, Dear Old Southland, and Whoa, Tillie. Layton also performed extensively as a singer and pianist, forming a popular duo with Clarence Johnstone that found lasting success in London from the 1920s through the 1930s. His performing career in England eventually overshadowed his composing work, though the songs he and Creamer wrote remained in wide circulation. Layton spent his later decades in London, where he died in 1978.
