John Frederick Coots was born in Brooklyn on May 2, 1897 to William Jerome Coots, a shipping inspector, and Annie Dent Coots. According to Coots, his father was also a semi-professional singer who performed at weddings and bar mitzvahs, while his mother was a concert pianist. Although some biographers claim that his mother taught him piano as a child, Coots himself claims to be self-taught.
After graduating from New York's P.S. 118 in 1912, Coots did not continue his formal education, but went to work as a messenger boy for J.P. Morgan, enroute to an anticipated career in banking. He continued to be attracted to a musical career, however, and eventually left the world of finance to become a nickelodeon pianist and eventually a song plugger in Tin Pan Alley while writing songs himself. He subsequently worked as a pianist in vaudeville and in burlesque, and performed in nightclubs.
After some success with writing material for vaudeville, he was tapped by Eddie Dowling to collaborate with lyricist Raymond Klages on Dowling's musical, Sally, Irene and Mary (1922), which ran for more than 300 performances on Broadway and ultimately toured the country. It was at this time that Coots joined the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), an organization that ensures its members receive royalty payments for broadcasts and other performances of their copyrighted works. Coots's success caught the attention of J.J. and Lee Shubert, who contracted him as a composer for their various Broadway productions. One of his songs, “A Precious Little Thing Called Love,” was used as the theme for the movie Shopworn Angel (1929). Coots played extensively in vaudeville himself between 1928-1930 with New York Yankees' pitcher Waite Hoyt; and again in 1934 with Eddie Dowling and Ray Dooley. Later, he was to collaborate with Benny Davis in several of the Cotton Club reviews (1936, 1937, 1938) that launched the career of Cab Calloway and included performers such as Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, and “Fats” Waller. Coots is also credited with discovering Jimmy Durante, and for encouraging Dorothy Fields and Jackie Gleason at the beginning of their careers as lyricist and comedian, respectively.
On February 18, 1924, he married Marjorie Jennings and began raising a family of four children: daughters Patricia and Gloria, and sons John Frederick Jr. and Clayton.
Coots's career as a Broadway composer closed with Sons o' Guns; a much later projected collaboration with Ogden Nash, “If I Were Queen” appears to have reached the production stage, but progressed no further. Coots nevertheless had a prolific and successful career as a popular songwriter ahead of him, with his works recorded by performers as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Pat Boone, and Bruce Springsteen. Best known today are “Love Letters in the Sand” (1931, to lyrics by Nick and Charles Kenny), “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (1934, introduced by Eddie Cantor on his weekly radio show), and the jazz standard “You Go to My Head” (1938), the latter two with lyrics by Haven Gillespie. In the 1950s, he also wrote a number of so-called “kiddie” songs, one of which, “Me and My Teddy Bear” (1953, with lyricist Jack Winters) launched Rosemary Clooney's recording career. In all, Coots has published over 700 out of an estimated 3000 songs. He was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1972, which was also his 50th anniversary as a member of ASCAP.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Coots was active on the lecture circuit, performing all over the U.S. at business functions, club banquets, school assemblies, and the like. The titles of his performance/talks include “Melodies and Memories,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Fun in Tin Pan Alley,” and “Broadway Is My Home.” He also performed on cruise ships and in nightclubs until his retirement in 1974. That same year, he agreed to allow his name to be used in the title of Warren E. Colbert's book, Who Wrote That Song? or Who in the Hell is J. Fred Coots? (1975), and even contributed a forward to that publication.
Coots died in his home in Manhattan on April 8, 1985.
