For a fifteen-year period from the mid 1940s to the late 1950s, Ray Evans and Jay Livingston were one of the most successful songwriting teams in Hollywood. Their names appeared as a double credit for lyrics and music at the head of almost all of their published sheet music. They won three Oscars for best original movie song, and they were both inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977. Their most famous songs include "To Each His Own" (1946), "Buttons and Bows" (1948), "Mona Lisa" (1950), "Silver Bells" (1951), "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Será, Será)" (1956), "Tammy" (1957), and "Dear Heart" (1964).

Raymond Bernard Evans was born on 4 February 1915 in Salamanca, New York, to Philip and Frances Lipsitz Evans. In high school he played clarinet and saxophone in the school orchestra. After graduating in 1931, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in banking and finance, played football...