Fred Ebb (1928 – 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera. Ebb was born in Manhattan to a Jewish family, the son of Anna Evelyn (née Gritz) and Harry Ebb. He worked during the early 1950s bronzing baby shoes, as a trucker's assistant, and was also employed in a department store credit office and at a hosiery company. In 1955, he graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, and two years later, he earned his Master’s from Columbia University. One of his early collaborators was Phil Springer, and a song they wrote together (“I Never Loved Him Anyhow”) was recorded by Carmen McRae in 1956. Another song Ebb wrote with Springer was “Heartbroken” (1953), which was recorded by Judy Garland, the mother of his future protégée, Liza Minnelli. Other Springer-Ebb tunes include "How Little We Know," "Moonlight Gambler" and "Nevertheless I Never Lost the Blues". "Don't Forget", which he wrote with Norman Leyden, was recorded by singer Eddy Arnold in 1954.
