CARMEL, N.Y., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Composer Bart Howard, who penned the 1962 hit "Fly Me To the Moon," has died in Carmel, N.Y., from complications of a stroke at the age of 88.
Howard's cabaret songs, such as "Let Me Love You" and "Don't Dream of Anybody But Me," were recorded by Mabel Mercer, Johnny Mathis and others. He was living in New Salem, N.Y., with Thomas Fowler, his companion of 58 years, at the time of his death, the New York Times reported Monday.
Born Howard Joseph Gustafson in Burlington, Iowa, Howard left home at 16 to be a pianist in a dance band that toured with the Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.
Mabel Mercer, whom he met in 1938, was the first to sing one of his songs in New York ("If You Leave Paris"). He sent four years as a musician in the Army before getting a job playing piano at Spivy's Roof, a New York cabaret, until Mercer hired him to accompany her at Tony's West Side.
After the success of "Fly Me to the Moon," Howard slowed down as a songwriter. In the 1980s and 1990s he played a few cabaret stints and concerts. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.
