Max C. Freedman

Who was Max C. Freedman?

Max C. Freedman was an American songwriter and lyricist, best remembered for co-writing the song "Rock Around the Clock".

He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and became a radio announcer, writer and entertainer, before joining the staff of a music publishing company. He joined ASCAP in 1942. One of his first successes as a writer, credited as Ray Freedman, was "Sioux City Sue", a hit record for the song's co-writer Dick Thomas in 1945, and later recorded by many others including Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Bob Wills and Willie Nelson. His other successful songs, several of which were written with Morty Berk and Frank Capano, included "Dreamy Old New England Moon", "Heartbreaker", and "Tea Leaves".

He wrote the words to a novelty song, "Rock Around the Clock", for which the tune was credited to "Jimmy DeKnight", a pseudonym used by music publisher and promoter James E. Myers. The song was published in early 1953, though there is evidence that it was written in 1952 and there are claims that Freedman wrote the song in its entirety. Although Bill Haley & His Comets were supposed to be the first to record it, a dispute between Myers and Dave Miller, the owner of Essex Records, prevented Haley from doing so. The first recording of the song was made by an Italian-American novelty group, Sonny Dae & His Knights. Haley finally recorded it in 1954 for Decca Records and in 1955, the song became a no. 1 record, one of the first of the rock and roll era.