Deaths on March 16

Don Robertson, American pianist and composer (b. 1922)

Donald Irwin Robertson (December 5, 1922 – March 16, 2015) was an American songwriter and pianist, mostly in the country and popular music genres. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. As a performer, he hit the US Top 10 with "The Happy Whistler" in 1956 (Peaking at 6th). The track reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart the same year. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.Although contracted to Capitol at the time of his biggest selling hit single, Robertson subsequently signed a recording contract with RCA Victor. He composed or co-composed with Hal Blair (né Harold Keller Brown; 1915–2001), many hits for other musicians, including Elvis Presley, who recorded over a dozen of Robertson's songs, five of which appeared in Presley's numerous films. He died in 2015.