eden ahbez (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), born Alexander Aberle in Brook… Read Full Bio ↴eden ahbez (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), born Alexander Aberle in Brooklyn, New York and adopted by a Kansas family and raised under the name George McGrew, was a songwriter and recording artist from the 1940s-1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential on the hippie movement. He refused to use capital letters to spell his name.

Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy", which became a #1 hit for eight weeks in 1948 for Nat "King" Cole. He lived a bucolic life. From at least as early as the 1940s, he travelled in sandals and wore shoulder-length hair and beard, and white robes. He camped out below the first L in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles, studied Oriental mysticism, and claimed to live on three dollars a week, sleeping outdoors with his family, and eating vegetables, fruits, and nuts. He was known to friends as ahbe.