R.I.P.: Songwriter Ray C. Bennett Dead At 96

Roy Bennett

Roy C. Bennett, who with his partner, Sid Tepper, wrote songs that were recorded by a wide roster of midcentury pop singers, including the titles “Red Roses for a Blue Lady,” “Kiss of Fire” and “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,” died on July 2 in Queens.

He was 96, according to The NY Times.

His son Neil confirmed the death, saying, when asked for the cause, that his father “just ran out of steam.”

Bennett and Tepper, who died in April, were friends and neighbors as children in Brooklyn before they became professional collaborators after World War II. They collaborated on both the words and the music for their songs, though Bennett, a self-taught pianist, was the sole musician of the two.

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