Clara Edwards was an American composer, singer, and pianist whose art songs gained wide popularity in the concert and popular music worlds of the early twentieth century. Born Clara Gerlich in 1880 near Mankato, Minnesota, she composed over 100 works across a career spanning roughly four decades, publishing more than 60 songs under her own name and occasionally using the pseudonym Bernard Haigh. Her biggest success was With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair, written with lyricist Jack Lawrence and published in 1930, which became a hit in 1940 and crossed over into the jazz ballad repertoire during the Big Band era. Other well-known compositions include By the Bend of the River and Into the Night, the latter a staple of voice teaching anthologies. Edwards also wrote sacred songs, choral arrangements, solo piano pieces, and music for children's marionette plays. Her songs were performed by leading vocalists of the day including soprano Lily Pons and baritones John Charles Thomas and Ezio Pinza. Though her work originated in the art song tradition rather than the jazz world, several of her compositions found lasting life through popular and jazz interpretations.
