“Moon River: The Songs of Johnny Mercer,” March 23

Saturday, March 23, 7 p.m.

Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA

Celebrating songs from more than 40 years of music in collaborations with the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, and Henry Mancini, Moon River: The Songs of Johnny Mercer is set to enthrall audiences at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts on March 23, delivering an evening of beloved standards straight from the golden age of Hollywood, among them "Satin Doll," "Jeepers Creepers," and "Days of Wine and Roses."

Born in 1909, Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music, and was a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-'50s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including "Moon River," "Days of Wine and Roses," "Autumn Leaves," and "Hooray for Hollywood." Over the course of his remarkable career, he wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows and received 19 Oscar nominations, winning four trophies for Best Original Song.

Mercer also founded Capitol Records in Hollywood in 1942, with the help of producer Buddy DeSylva and record store owner Glen Wallichs, and co-founded Cowboy Records. As the founder active in the management of Capitol during the '40s, Mercer signed many of its important recording artists, including Nat "King" Cole. It also gave him an outlet for his own recordings, with his hit "Strip Polka" the company's third release. Mercer's four million-sellers were his own "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" and "On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe," plus two by other composers, "Candy" and "Personality." One recording of a song that has lived on is his recording of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah," written by Allie Wrubel and Ray Gailbert for Disney's 1946 movie Song of the South. Mercer's recording was a top hit for eight weeks in December of 1947 and January of 1948, ultimately reaching number eighty, and today it continues to be the version most played on Sirius radio's '40s satellite channel.

Directed by Josh Sazon and with music direction by Wes Habley, Moon River: The Songs of Johnny Mercer will feature a 16-piece big band, as well as vocals by Marcia Hughes, Katelyn Halverson, David Raim. This special addition to the American Songbook series takes place at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts on March 23, admission to the 7 p.m. concert event is $10-20, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)248-9370 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.