Clifford Grey

Who was Clifford Grey?

Clifford Grey was an English songwriter, actor, librettist and Olympic medalist. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray, Tippi Gray, Tippi Grey, Tippy Gray and Tippy Grey.

As a writer, Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Broadway shows, as librettist and lyricist for composers including Ivor Novello, Jerome Kern, Howard Talbot, Ivan Caryll and George Gershwin. Among his best-remembered songs are two from early in his career, in 1916: "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" and "Another Little Drink Wouldn’t Do Us Any Harm". His later hits include "Spread a Little Happiness".

Unbeknown to his family and professional colleagues, Grey competed as an American bobsleigher, under a different name, in two Winter Olympics, in 1928 and 1932, winning gold medals. Although the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and other sources conclude that the songwriter was the same person as the athlete, some sources disagree.