Gloria Shayne Baker

About

Remembered for several songs co-written with her one-time husband Noel Regney, Baker is perhaps most famous for her contributions to the Christmas carol "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (composed in 1962) and the popular song "Rain Rain Go Away."

Before Fame

Born to Jewish parents Mark and Rose Shain, she grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, as the next door neighbor of future United States President John F. Kennedy. In her younger years, she performed with her siblings Thelma and Esther as a member of The Shain Sisters trio.

Trivia

During the later years of her life, she served as the accompanist for operatic tenor Jan Peerce. Earlier in her career, she had arranged work by both Irving Berlin and Stephen Sondheim.

Family Life

After her two-decade marriage to French songwriter Noel Regney ended in the early 1970s, she married William Baker.

Associated With

She wrote the 1961 James Darren hit "Goodbye Cruel World."