Norman Gimbel Brooklyn, New York) is an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes whose nearly-sixty-year career includes such titles as "Sway", "Canadian Sunset", "Summer Samba", "The Girl from Ipanema", "Meditation" and "I Will Wait for You", along with Oscar and Grammy wins. During 1984 he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
A native of Brooklyn, Norman Gimbel was self-taught in music and following initial employment with music publisher David Blum, progressed to become a contract songwriter with Edwin H. Morris Music. Small successes and moderate fame came as a result of lively novelty songs "Ricochet", which was popularized in a 1953 recording by Teresa Brewer from which was developed the 1954 Judy Canova film Ricochet Romance, and "A Whale of a Tale", sung by Kirk Douglas in another 1954 production, Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Greater success was earned with Dean Martin's recording of "Sway", which reached #6 on the UK Singles Chart, followed by his first big success, Andy Williams' rendition of "Canadian Sunset", which scored to #1 in 1956.
Top songwriter Frank Loesser became Gimbel's mentor and,.