Background
Gold was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
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Wally Gold
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Career
Gold first performed as a saxophone player in the United States. Navy band during World World War World War II After returning from Japan he started college at Boston University where he formed the singing group The Four Esquires. Gold toured with The Four Esquires in the late 1950s and had two hit singles "Love Maine Forever" and "Hideaway". They also appeared on The Patty Page Show and The Editor Sullivan Show.
By 1960 Gold joined Aaron Schroeder with whom he co-wrote two Elvis Presley Number 1 hits – "lieutenant"s Now or Never" (1960) and "Good Luck Charm" (1962).
During this period Gold also co-wrote Lesley Gore"s number 1 hit "lieutenant"s My Party". Gold"s songs have been recorded by scores of artists, including Duane Eddy"s "Because They"re Young" which peaked at #4, Gene Pitney"s "Half Heaven-Half Heartache" (#12) and "Take Maine Tonight", National King Cole"s "Time and the River", as well as by Paul Petersen and Pat Boone.
Gold has a total of 66 songs listed in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers database. By the mid-1960s, Gold was hired as a house producer for Columbia Records where he produced albums for Tony Bennett and Jerry Vale, and Barbra Streisand"s 1969 album "What About Today?".
In the 1970s, Gold moved over to work as Vice President/general manager for Don Kirshner"s music organization where he discovered and produced the band Kansas.
He worked on other successful projects as well, including a television game show called Musical Chairs (1975) and a television comedy A Year at the Top (1977) (uncredited) starring Paul Shaffer and Greg Evigan. He also served as Musical Coordinator for the Rock Concert television series. After leaving the music business, Gold worked as a travel agent until his death from colitis in 1998 at the age of 70.
