- Written by Henry Mancini (music), & Johnny Mercer (lyrics) in 1961
- Mercer & Mancini won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song" for Moon River in 1961
- Henry Mancini (born 4/16/24 died 6/14/94) was nominated for a total of 74 Grammy Awards in his lifetime, & won 20
- He also was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four
- Lyricist Johnny Mercer (born 11/18/09 died 6/25/76) was equally productive, scoring 19 Academy Award nominations and winning four
- The lyricist of over 1000 songs, in '71 Mercer was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
- Moon River was included in the film "Breakfast At Tiffany's" starring a young Audrey Hepburn
- Two versions of the song reached the Billboard Top 40 charts in 1961, one by by Mancini himself and one by by Jerry Butler
- Both versions of the song peaked at #11, within one month of each other
- Mancini's version was on the Billboard Top40 charts for 16 weeks, and was the second of his 7 Top 40 hits as a performer
- R&B singer Jerry Butler (born 12/8/39) saw his version of the song on the Top 40 chart for 11 weeks
- It was the 5th of 16 Top 40 hits for Butler
- The most popular vocal version of Moon River never charted. Recorded by Andy Williams, also in 1961, it later became his signature theme song
- A very popular waltz for weddings for father / daughter dance or mother / son dance or other parent dances, and even for use as a first dance number
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An excerpt from a live Oracle Band performance of this song is available as both a streaming RealAudio format, or as a higher quality downloadable MP3. Select the version you'd prefer. |
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Purchase Henry Mancini's Greatest Hits from Amazon.com & save! |
