The team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross was unusual in the annals of Broadway songwriters in that each man collaborated on both music and lyrics. While several composer-lyricists wrote various songs separately for the same score, Adler and Ross usually sat down at the piano and worked out a song together. As Adler once explained, "It's impossible to say who does what and when. But we've set rules. If I come in with what I think is a beautiful idea, and he says, 'I don't like it,' I can scream, I can rave, but it's out. It obviates arguments. There has to be unanimity in our operation." Theirs was an unusually close collaborative arrangement and fostered many hits. When Ross died, however, Adler was left adrift.

Richard Adler was born in New York City on 3 August 1921, the son of Elsa Adrienne Richard Adler, a noted concert...