Mel Torme was an American composer and songwriter who wrote more than two hundred and fifty songs over a career spanning from the early 1940s through the late twentieth century. He placed his first hit, Lament to Love, with Harry James's band at age fifteen. His most famous composition, The Christmas Song, co-written with lyricist Bob Wells in 1946, was popularized by Nat King Cole's definitive recording and has since been covered more than seventeen hundred times, ranking among ASCAP's most-performed holiday songs. The tune, conceived on a sweltering California day as an exercise in evoking cool winter imagery, became a permanent fixture of the American songbook. Beyond that signature piece, Torme's catalog includes Born to Be Blue, Welcome to the Club, and California Suite. His songs drew from swing, vocal jazz, and Tin Pan Alley traditions, and a long partnership with pianist George Shearing enriched his later work.
