Who origionaly wrote "The Little Drummer Boy" the song?

[kramerbaby]

I need to get the writer and the writers biography for an essay due friday in choir. If anyone could help me, that would be greatly appreciated. I can’t find anything. Thanks so much! (links would be helpful)

 

[space_ghost]

Little Drummer Boy!
The words and music to the Christmas song Little Drummer Boy was composed by Katherine K. Davis, Henry Onorati and Harry Simeone in 1958. The lyrics of Little Drummer Boy consist of no less than 21 rum pum pum pum’ - a major part of the song and therefore presenting an apparently easy task for the lyricist! However, Little Drummer Boy has been a huge hit for several artists. The most notable rendition was created by the most unlikely combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie. This version of Little Drummer Boy was a massive hot for the artists and was in fact Bing Crosby’s most successful recording since the legendary White Christmas.

carols.org.uk/little_drummer_boy.htm

 

[kramerbaby]

Where can I find a bio of one of the three people? I have looked for a while and came up with nothing.

 

[Marie]

kramerbaby:

Where can I find a bio of one of the three people? I have looked for a while and came up with nothing.

Katherine Davis

Harry Simeone

Biography
b. 9 May 1911, Newark, New Jersey, USA. An arranger, conductor and composer, Simeone studied at the Juilliard School of Music, before working for CBS, where he was spotted by bandleader Fred Waring. He took him onto his staff as an arranger in 1939, and from there Simeone moved to Hollywood and worked for Paramount with the legendary composer-conductor Victor Young on several Bing Crosby movies, including Here Come The Waves and the “Road” series with Hope and Lamour. In 1945 he rejoined Waring and became the editor of Waring’s Shawnee Press. From 1952-59 he served as the conductor and chorale arranger for the popular weekly Firestone Hour on television.

In 1958 Simeone released the chorale album Sing We Now Of Christmas, a collection of sacred songs and carols. It also contained “The Little Drummer Boy”, written by Simeone with Henry Onorati and Katherine Davis. The tune was taken from the Spanish song “Tabolilleros”. Issued as a single, the Harry Simeone Chorale version entered the US charts each December for five consecutive years, from 1958-62. In the UK Top 20 there were additional versions by the Beverley Sisters and Michael Flanders in 1959, and in 1972 the songs was again successful in Britain in a version by the Pipes And Drums And Military Band Of The Royal Scots Guards. In 1970, estimated sales from some 150 versions were in the order of 25 million. The original Sing We Now Of Christmas was retitled The Little Drummer Boy in 1963, and remained in catalogues throughout the 80s.

That is all I found. Nothing turns up on the third person.