birth_place imagesize name birth_date article_title birth_name occupation
oklahoma city , oklahoma , us 255px paul hampton 20 august 1937 paul hampton
 paul schwartz actor , singer , composer
paul hampton

paul hampton -lrb- born august 20 , 1937 -rrb- is an american actor , singer , lyricist and writer .
he is listed as one of one hundred major architects of american rock and roll in the british rock journal `` footsoldiers and kings . ''
while he was a sophomore at dartmouth college , he was signed to columbia records and columbia pictures at the same time to write music with hal david and burt bacharach .
in 1960 , with bacharach he co-composed and performed `` two hour honeymoon '' .
after this initial outing he co-wrote hits for don gibson -lrb- `` sea of heartbreak '' -rrb- , gene pitney -lrb- `` donna means heartbreak '' -rrb- , johnny tillotson -lrb- `` i rise , i fall '' -rrb- and hits for overseas artists -lrb- `` angry at the old oak tree . '' -rrb-
also he wrote the theme for `` my mother the car '' and sang it under the group name albuquerque .
he made two albums , `` beautiful beginnings '' and `` rest home for children . ''
some of his songs have been recorded by sammy davis jr. , bette midler , eddy arnold , tom jones , merle haggard , ricky nelson , elvis presley , gene pitney and johnny cash .
his film career began in 1958 starring in `` senior prom '' .
many television appearances ensued such as `` the doris day show '' , `` the smothers brothers comedy hour '' , `` mccloud '' , `` ironside '' , `` combat ! ''
, `` benson '' and others .
some notable movie appearances were in `` lady sings the blues '' , `` hit '' !
, `` more dead than alive '' , '' and the award-winning television show `` never forget '' .
hampton continues to act and compose today -lrb- 2010 -rrb- .
in 2008 tony award winning actress and singer idina menzel recorded hampton 's song `` hope '' for the major league baseball stand up to cancer charitable program .
he is the ascap award-winning songwriter for `` sea of heartbreak '' , used in the soundtrack for the films `` the butcher boy '' , `` perfect world '' , `` heartbreak ridge '' and `` clay pigeons '' .
in 2010 singer rosanne cash covered the song in a duo with bruce springsteen which received a grammy nomination and was promoted as the single from her album the list .
