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Bent Fabric

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Musician

The Resume

    (December 7, 1924-July 28, 2020)
    Born in Frederiksberg, Denmark
    Birth name was Bent Fabricius-Bjerre
    Jazz pianist and composer
    Recorded the international hit single ‘Alley Cat’ (1962)
    Composed scores for several Scandinavian films and TV series
    Hosted the music series ‘Around a Piano’ and ‘The Blue Hour’

Why he might be annoying:

    He used the pseudonym Frank Bjorn when writing songs.
    He was a one-hit wonder, with ‘Alley Cat’ his only Top 40 hit.
    As part of its publicity push, Atco Records claimed ‘Alley Cat’ had been inspired by his own two cats; it actually had been written as the theme song for ‘Around a Piano’ (which was also the original title of the song).
    Atco records disliked ‘Around a Piano’ as a title and suggested renaming the song with an animal theme. ‘Drunken Penguin’ and ‘Pink Elephant’ were among the possibilities considered before ‘Alley Cat’ was chosen.
    ’Alley Cat’ won the Grammy for Best Rock and Roll Recording, which makes NARAS’ decision to give Jethro Tull the Grammy for Best Hard Rock or Heavy Metal Performance look almost rational.

Why he might not be annoying:

    In addition to selling over a million singles, ‘Alley Cat’ sold over 500,000 copies of sheet music, presumably because it was simple enough for a beginning piano student to play.
    ’The Alley Cat’ and its associated dance became a staple at wedding receptions.
    He founded the record label Metronome, where he discovered fellow Danish one-hit wonder Jorgen Ingmann.
    He wrote a ballet based on the ‘Little Mermaid’ fable.
    More than four decades after his biggest hit, a remix of his song ‘Jukebox’ hit the top ten on Billboard’s Dance/Club Play chart (2006).

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 12 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 111 Votes: 42.34% Annoying