Guitar and mandolin player Coleman was born in Oklahoma. In 1940, when he was 18 years old, the family was living in Los Angeles. He became a member of the Julius Wechter ‘s Baja Marimba Band which had formed after the success of Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, to which Wechter had earlier belonged. Coleman also worked with Alpert and his band; his best known contribution was ”Tijuana Taxi” about a taxi that takes a short cut off-road across Mexican fields. He died prematurely from surgical complications and was survived by his widow, Eleanor. Both Wechter and Alpert included tribute songs for him in their later albums. Alpert also included “Tijuana Taxi” in his and gave a co-writer credit to Eleanor.

American composer and songwriter Cy Coleman, born in New York, was a child prodigy who played the piano at Carnegie Hall and other venues between the ages of six and nine. Later, in 1948, he graduated from the New York College of Music. He formed the Coleman Trio playing classical music and jazz, but his interest switched to popular music. Collaborating first with Joseph Allen McCarthy and then Carolyn Leigh, he began to compose for show business. Among their early works, was the Playboy theme for Hugh Hefner’s television show and the music for the 1960 “Wildcat” with Lucille Ball, their Broadway debut. In 1964 he began collaborating with librettist and lyricist Dorothy Fields, co-writing the show “Sweet Charity.” Fields died in 1974 but Coleman continued to be prolific into the 1980s. Beside three Emmy awards, two Grammy awards, an Oscar nomination and numerous Tony awards and nominations, he was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981 and received its Johnny Mercer Award in 1995). Hofstra University gave him an honorary doctorate in 2000.