Al Kasha facts for kids

Alfred Kasha (born January 22, 1937 – died September 14, 2020) was an American songwriter. He wrote many famous songs, including "The Morning After" from the movie The Poseidon Adventure.

Life and Career

Al Kasha started writing and producing music when he was young. At just 22 years old, he became a producer at Columbia Records. In 1959, he worked at the famous Brill Building. This was a place where many great writers and artists worked together. Some of these included Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, and Neil Diamond.

Kasha worked with many well-known singers. He wrote songs for Aretha Franklin, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, Charles Aznavour, Bobby Darin, and Jackie Wilson.

He is best known for his long partnership with fellow songwriter Joel Hirschhorn. Together, they wrote many popular songs for music groups, movies, and musicals. For example, they wrote "Will You Be Staying After Sunday" for the group The Peppermint Rainbow.

Awards and Nominations

Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn won the Academy Award for Best Song twice. They won for "The Morning After" in 1973. This song was from the movie The Poseidon Adventure. They won again in 1975 for "We May Never Love Like This Again". This song was from the movie The Towering Inferno. Both songs were sung by Maureen McGovern.

They also received two more Academy Award nominations. These were for their work on the 1977 Disney film Pete's Dragon. They were nominated for Best Song Score and for Best Song ("Candle On The Water," sung by Helen Reddy).

Besides the Academy Awards, Kasha and Hirschhorn received many other honors:

• Two Tony nominations for their work on Broadway musicals. These were for Copperfield and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
• Two Grammy nominations.
• One Emmy.
• Four Golden Globe nominations.
• A People's Choice Award.

They also wrote the theme song for the TV game show The Challengers in the 1990s.

Later Life

Al Kasha wrote three books during his life. These included If They Ask You Can Write A Song, Notes On Broadway, and his autobiography, Reaching The Morning After.

He was married to Ceil Kasha and had a daughter named Dana Kasha-Cohen. In his later years, he had Parkinson's disease.

Al Kasha passed away on September 14, 2020, at the age of 83.

Discography

Singles

• "Sing (And Tell The Blues "So Long")" / "One Of Them" (1960)

See also

In Spanish: Al Kasha para niños