Peter DeRose was an American composer whose career stretched across the Tin Pan Alley era from the 1910s through the early 1950s. He published his first piece, Tiger Rose Waltzes, in 1914 and went on to write dozens of pop ballads, waltzes, and novelty songs, frequently collaborating with lyricists including Billy Hill, Mitchell Parish, Charles Tobias, and Carl Sigman. His most celebrated composition is Deep Purple, originally written as a piano piece in 1934, which became a major hit in 1939 when Larry Clinton and His Orchestra recorded it with Parish's lyrics. The song was subsequently covered by Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Sarah Vaughan, and Nino Tempo and April Stevens, among many others. Wagon Wheels, composed in 1934 with lyrics by Billy Hill, is another well-known DeRose song that drew on American folk imagery and became a popular standard. Additional compositions include Lilacs in the Rain and A Marshmallow World. DeRose also appeared on radio alongside his wife, ukulele player May Singhi Breen, on the program Sweethearts of the Air, which helped promote his songs. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
