Shearing was born in the Battersea area of London, United Kingdom. Congenitally blind, he was the youngest of nine children. He started to learn piano at the age of three. After limited training and extensive listening to recorded jazz, he began playing at hotels, clubs and pubs in the London area, sometimes solo, occasionally with dance bands. In 1940, Shearing joined Harry Parry's popular band and became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing with Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early 1940s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls.
In 1946, Shearing established himself in the United States. In 1955, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Leading a quintet (piano with guitar, bass, drums and vibraphone), which over the years included Cal Tjader, Margie Hyams, Denzil Best, Israel Crosby, Joe Pass and Gary Burton, Shearing had a succession of hugely popular records including September In The Rain and his own composition, Lullaby Of Birdland (1952). His style, including the joint playing of the melody by piano and vibraphone, was also widely copied, becoming part of the idiom of pop music, so that his records from that period now sound far less innovative than they did at the time. Later, Shearing played with a trio, as a solo and increasingly in duo. Among his collaborations have been sets with the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Brian Torff, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and Kenny Davern.
In the 1970s, Shearing's profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord Records in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance.
Over the years, Shearing has also collaborated with singers including Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Ernestine Anderson, Carmen McRae, and most notably, Mel Tormé, with whom he performed frequently in the late 80s and early 90s at festivals, on radio and for recordings.
Recently, Shearing collaborated with the John Pizzarelli Trio to create the album The Rare Delight of You, which garnered extremely good reviews. The album cover, featuring Pizzarelli and Shearing posing in front of a solid blue background, was designed to resemble the cover of Nat King Cole Sings George Shearing Plays, a legendary jazz recording with which it shares some similarities in style.
Shearing's interest in classical music resulted in some performances with concert orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, and his solo's frequently draw upon the music of Debussy and, particularly, Erik Satie for inspiration. Shearing also made a recording with the classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell.
Shearing wrote a number of jazz arrangements of hymn tunes for the organ in collaboration with organist Dale Wood, that have been published in sheet music form.
(2) For a long stretch of time in the 1950s and early '60s, George Shearing had one of the most popular jazz combos on the planet -- so much so that, in the usual jazz tradition of distrusting popular success, he tended to be underappreciated. Shearing's main claim to fame was the invention of a unique quintet sound, derived from a combination of piano, vibraphone, electric guitar, bass, and drums. Within this context, Shearing would play in a style he called "locked hands," which he picked up and refined from Milt Buckner's early-'40s work with the Lionel Hampton band, as well as Glenn Miller's sax section and the King Cole Trio. Stating the melody on the piano with closely knit, harmonized block chords, with the vibes and guitar tripling the melody in unison, Shearing sold tons of records for MGM and Capitol in his heyday.
The wild success of this urbane sound obscures Shearing's other great contribution during this time, for he was also a pioneer of exciting, small-combo Afro-Cuban jazz in the '50s. Indeed, Cal Tjader first caught the Latin jazz bug while playing with Shearing, and the English bandleader also employed such esteemed congueros as Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, and Armando Peraza. As a composer, Shearing was best known for the imperishable, uniquely constructed bop standard "Lullaby of Birdland," as well as "Conception" and "Consternation." His solo style, though all his own, reflected the influences of the great boogie-woogie pianists and classical players, as well as those of Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, Erroll Garner, Art Tatum, and Bud Powell -- and fellow pianists long admired his light, refined touch. He was also known to play accordion and sing in a modest voice on occasion.
Shearing, who was born blind, began playing the piano at the age of three, receiving some music training at the Linden Lodge School for the Blind in London as a teenager but picking up the jazz influence from Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller 78s. In the late '30s, he started playing professionally with the Ambrose dance band and made his first recordings in 1937 under the aegis of fellow Brit Leonard Feather. He became a star in Britain, performing for the BBC, playing a key role in the self-exiled Stéphane Grappelli's London-based groups of the early '40s, and winning seven consecutive Melody Maker polls before emigrating in New York City in 1947 at the prompting of Feather. Once there, Shearing quickly absorbed bebop into his bloodstream, replacing Garner in the Oscar Pettiford Trio and leading a quartet in tandem with Buddy DeFranco. In 1949, he formed the first and most famous of his quintets, which included Marjorie Hyams on vibes (thus striking an important blow for emerging female jazz instrumentalists), Chuck Wayne on guitar, John Levy on bass, and Denzil Best on drums. Recording briefly first for Discovery, then Savoy, Shearing settled into lucrative associations with MGM (1950-1955) and Capitol (1955-1969), the latter for which he made albums with Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, and Nat King Cole. He also made a lone album for Jazzland with the Montgomery Brothers (including Wes Montgomery) in 1961, and began playing concert dates with symphony orchestras.
After leaving Capitol, Shearing began to phase out his by-then-predictable quintet, finally breaking it up in 1978. He started his own label, Sheba, which lasted for a few years into the early '70s -- and made some trio recordings for MPS later in the decade. In the '70s, his profile had been lowered considerably, but upon signing with Concord in 1979, Shearing found himself enjoying a renaissance in all kinds of situations. He made a number of acclaimed albums with Mel Tormé, raising the singer's profile in the process, and recorded with the likes of Ernestine Anderson, Jim Hall, Marian McPartland, Hank Jones, and classical French horn player Barry Tuckwell. He also recorded a number of solo piano albums where his full palette of influences came into play. He signed with Telarc in 1992 and from that point through the early 2000s continued to perform and record, most often appearing in a duo or trio setting. Shearing, who had remained largely inactive since 2004 after a fall in his New York City apartment, died of congestive heart failure at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital on February 14, 2011. He was 91. ~ Richard S. Ginell, Rovi
You're Driving Me Crazy
George Shearing Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Why did you leave me lonely?
For here's a heart that's only
For nobody but you!
I'm burning like a flame, dear;
Oh, I'll never be the same, dear;
I'll always place the blame, dear,
Yes, you,
You're driving me crazy!
What did I do? What did I do?
My tears for you
Make everything hazy,
Clouding the skies of blue.
How true,
Were the friends who were near me to cheer me,
Believe me, they knew!
But you,
Were the kind who would hurt me, desert me,
When I needed you!
Yes, you!
You're driving me crazy!
What did I do to you?
The lyrics to George Shearing's song You're Driving Me Crazy are a lamentation about heartbreak and the pain caused by the actions of another person. The singer is left sad and lonely, questioning why they were left in such a state. The heart of the singer belongs only to the person who left them, but that person has caused unbearable pain. The singer is burning like a flame, indicating the intensity of their emotions, and that they are forever changed because of the relationship. The singer is placing the blame on nobody but the person who left them.
The chorus section repeats the phrase "you're driving me crazy" several times, juxtaposing the intense emotional pain felt by the singer with the casual tone of the phrase. The singer is asking what they did to deserve this pain, indicating that they are confused and have been left in a state of shock. Their emotions are so intense that they have clouded the skies of blue, indicating the physical manifestation of their pain. The singer then reflects on the friends who were near to cheer them up, but acknowledges that they knew the person who left them would hurt them. The final line indicates that the pain caused by the person who left was deliberate, and that they chose to hurt the singer when they needed them most.
Line by Line Meaning
You left me sad and lonely;
I feel abandoned and alone now that you are not around;
Why did you leave me lonely?
I don't understand why you left me all by myself;
For here's a heart that's only
I have so much love to give, but it's only for you;
For nobody but you!
I have affection for you more than anyone else in this world;
I'm burning like a flame, dear;
My heart is aching intensely;
Oh, I'll never be the same, dear;
I feel like I will never be able to recover from this pain;
I'll always place the blame, dear,
I blame only you for the hurt and sadness I am feeling;
On nobody but you.
No one else could have caused me this much pain but you;
Yes, you,
It's you who is responsible for everything;
You're driving me crazy!
This is causing me to act irrational and lose my mind;
What did I do? What did I do?
I can't think of anything that I did to deserve this pain;
My tears for you
My sadness because of you;
Make everything hazy,
I can't think clearly because of my sadness;
Clouding the skies of blue.
This sadness is taking over everything and making it hard to see the good in anything;
How true,
It's a fact that;
Were the friends who were near me to cheer me,
My friends were always there trying to cheer me up;
Believe me, they knew!
They were aware of how much this has affected me;
But you,
However, you;
Were the kind who would hurt me, desert me,
You were the kind of person who would intentionally hurt and abandon me;
When I needed you!
When I was feeling down and needed someone to lean on, you weren't there;
What did I do to you?
I am still trying to understand what I did to make you hurt me like this;
Lyrics © DONALDSON PUBLISHING CO, TOBAGO MUSIC COMPANY
Written by: Walter Donaldson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Dave Bollinger
Mel didn't just sing. He could play most if the instruments in the band. As well as arrange and write.
Miklos Ernoehazy
...@1:42 to 2:00...
...a sustained note in perfect tone from such a flawless voice...
...most impressive...
Official Alison Jiear
OH GOD ISN'T THAT HEAVEN!!!!! perfect intonation on that note, smooth, little bit o' vib on the end and into the next phrase without a blip! Class!!!!!
Aprilhojazz
what a performer, singer, showman!
Pete Shaw
Mel so underrated the man's a genius
richard tynan
Wow! Mel gets better and better.
Ron Kida
The greatest scatmaster of all times!!
Pam Tebelman
Sensational!
Clamchucker
Mel Torme: The least appreciated male vocalist of the twentieth century. Velvet fog and all that aside, he was the best voice, period.
Graf Ernest von Defregger
i mostly agree with you but what about tony bennett? he is still alive and very very good