Kay Swift

Kay Swift is better known for her decade-long involvement with George Gershwin than she is for her own musical contributions to the American Songbook. After George's death, she was sought after far more as an expert on his work than for her own original musical compositions. Though many people believe that she made this choice, she had a great deal of regret that her career was always second to his, and much as she wished for work, she never had few of the kind of opportunities that would have resulted in a bigger catalog bearing her name. Gershwin dedicated his "Songbook" to her. He suggested that her maiden name, Swift, with the nickname "Kay," which originated with him, would be the perfect name for her as a songwriter. Trained as a classical musician, with a great deal of talent both as a performer and as a composer, she only began to write popular show tunes with his encouragement. In 1930, Kay and her husband James Paul Warburg (of the banking Warburgs) wrote the first successfu