Danish Grammy award-winning composer and pianist Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, known internationally as Bent Fabric, who had an international hit in 1962 with the tune “Alley Cat,” has died. He was 95.
His family confirmed that Fabricius-Bjerre died on Tuesday after fighting cancer.
Fabricius-Bjerre penned and played an instrumental for a Danish television show “Omkring et flygel” (Around a Grand Piano) which became a hit in his native Denmark in 1961.
A year later, his international stage name became Bent Fabric and the hit was released worldwide as “Alley Cat.”
The cheerful and simple tune won a Grammy Award in 1962 for Best Instrumental and the album on which the instrumental featured sold over 1 million copies.
Considered the Grand Old Man of Danish pop music, he wrote dozens of scores for films and television shows. In 1950, he founded a record company that had Danish artists in its fold. It later became a film production company. He sold it in 1996.
Thoughout his career, Fabricius-Bjerre received scores of honors, including a lifetime achievement award in 2017 from the HARPA Nordic Film Composers, according to his website.
Born Dec. 7, 1924, in Copenhagen, Fabricius-Bjerre is survived by his third wife, Camilla Padilla Arndt, and four children from his first marriage.
