Al Hoffman

Russian-American hit songwriter in the 1930s-50s, usually co-writing with others.

Born 25 September 1902 in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus).
Died 21 July 1960 in New York City, New York, USA.

Hoffman moved with his parents to Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. when he was 6. After graduating from high school in Seattle, he started his own band, playing the drums, and moved to New York City in 1928 to pursue a music career. Though he continued playing the drums in night club bands and selling bagels door-to-door on Broadway, he began writing songs, collaborating with such other songwriters as Leon Carr, Leo Corday, Mann Curtis, Mack David, Milton Drake, Al Goodhart, Walter Kent, Sammy Lerner, Jerry Livingston, Dick Manning, Bob Merrill, Ed Nelson, and Maurice Sigler.

In 1934 he moved to London to work on stage productions and movies, co-writing the hit songs “She Shall Have Music” and “Everything Stops For Tea”. He returned to the USA three years later.

In 1984 he was inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame. He has over 1,500 songs registered with ASCAP.

He died in New York City of prostate cancer and is buried in New Jersey.