Cole Porter was an American composer and songwriter born June 9, 1891 in Peru, Indiana. Many of his songs became standards played and sung regularly by jazz artists. The songs are noted for their witty and urbane lyrics, and many of his compositions found success on Broadway and in movies.

Born to a wealthy family, Porter defied his family's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Although he was classically trained he was drawn to the musical theatre genre. After a slow start to his career, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote both the lyrics and the music for his songs, but he did not write the books of the shows or the movie screenplays in which his songs appeared. Porter stated that plot was only “a convenient clothesline on which to hang his songs.”

Cole Porter’s numerous hit songs include Night and Day, Begin the Beguine, I Get a Kick Out of You, Well, Did You Evah?, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Get Out of Town, Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love and You’re the Top. His final score was for the 1958 CBS television special “Aladdin.”

Cole Porter passed away in Santa Monica, California in 1964 after having been in poor health for several years.

Here is a link to Frank Sinatra singing a Cole Porter classic:

"I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN"