Award winning songwriter and composer Charles Strouse died May 15, 2025 in New York City at the age of 96.

Strouse had a hit with his very first musical in 1960 – “Bye, Bye Birdie”.  And after that the hits kept coming including “Tomorrow” from “Annie”, “Put on a Happy Face”, and the song sung by Archie and Edith Bunker “Those Were the Days”.

“Bye, Bye Birdie” earned Strouse his first Tony Award for Best Musical.

Strouse paired up with lyricist Lee Adams for some 20 years.  Later he joined up with Martin Charmin whose first collaboration was a musical about a little red-headed orphan named “Annie”.

He was born Charles Louis Strouse on June 7,1928 in New York City but it was the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where Strouse studied music under David Diamond, Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger. He paid the bills as a rehearsal pianist.

It was playing piano where he first met Lee Adams – a television writer.  Adams noted, “we learned our stuff in the mountains, at Green Mansions, this place in the Adirondacks where young singles from New York would go to meet each other, and we had a full theatre program: Orchestra, sets, costumes, lights, a theatre. We would do an original revue every Saturday night—music, lyrics, sketches all summer.”

Among those Strouse played for was Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer; he was playing on a show called “Saratoga” when stage manager Edward Padula hired Strouse to compose what would go one to become “Bye, Bye Birdie”.

Strouse’s Broadway credits include:
“Annie”
“Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life”
“Applause”
“Bye, Bye Birdie”

Pre-deceased by his wife of over 60 year Barbara Siman, Strouse is survived by his four children Benjamin, Nicholas, Victoria, and William.

Charles Strouse awards and accomplishments include:
Tony Awards for “Annie”, “Applause”, and “Bye, Bye, Birdie”
He also is a Grammy and Emmy Award winner
30+ stage musicals – 14 on Broadway and has composed five Hollywood films including “Bonnie & Clyde”, “There Was a Crooked Man”, “The Night They Raided Minsky’s”, “Just Tell Me What You Want”, and “All Dogs Go to Heaven”;  two orchestral works, and an opera
is a member of the Songwriters and Theatre Halls of Fame



Feature photo credit: Charles Strouse photograph.jpg

Photograph of Charles Strouse