Jerry Bock was an American composer for musical theater whose melodic gifts and dramatic instincts produced some of Broadway's most beloved scores. Born Jerrold Lewis Bock in New Haven, Connecticut in 1928, he began writing songs as a student at the University of Wisconsin before launching his professional career in New York. His early work included contributions to revues and the score for Mr. Wonderful in 1956, from which Too Close for Comfort emerged as a hit song that entered the jazz standard repertoire through recordings by Eydie Gorme and numerous jazz instrumentalists. Bock's most celebrated work came through his partnership with lyricist Sheldon Harnick, which produced a remarkable string of musicals between 1957 and 1970. Fiorello! won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1960, She Loves Me offered a sophisticated chamber musical in 1963, and Fiddler on the Roof became one of the most successful musicals in Broadway history upon its premiere in 1964, yielding songs like Sunrise, Sunset and If I Were a Rich Man that entered popular consciousness worldwide. Other Bock and Harnick musicals include The Apple Tree and The Rothschilds. Bock worked with directors George Abbott and Hal Prince and orchestrator Don Walker.
