Vernon Duke (10 October [O.S. 27 September] 1903 — January 16, 1969) was a Russian-American composer/songwriter, who also wrote under his original name Vladimir Dukelsky. He is best known for "Taking a Chance on Love" with lyrics by Ted Fetter and John Latouche, "I Can't Get Started" with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, "April in Paris" with lyrics by E. Y. ("Yip") Harburg (1932), and "What Is There To Say" for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, also with Harburg. He wrote the words and music for "Autumn in New York" (1934). Vernon collaborated with lyricists such as Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, Ogden Nash and Sammy Cahn and his works have been performed and recorded by Tony Bennett, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra and Thelonious Monk.[1]
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dukelsky was born in 1903 into a noble family of mixed Georgian-Austrian-Spanish-Russian descent, in Parafianovka, Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire. The 1954 Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians referred to "one of his grandparents" (Princess Tumanishvili) as having been "directly descended from the kings of Georgia". His.