Roger "Ram" Ramirez (September 15, 1913 – 11 January 1994) was a Puerto Rican jazz pianist and composer. He was a co-composer of the song "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)"
Ramirez was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 15, 1913.[1] He grew up in New York and started playing the piano at a young age.[1]
Ramirez's first professional performances were in the early 1930s.[1] In 1933 he played with Monette Moore, then with Rex Stewart and Sid Catlett in New York.[1] He joined Willie Bryant in 1935, and toured Europe with Bobby Martin in 1937.[1] During the first half of the 1940s Ramirez played with Ella Fitzgerald, Frankie Newton, Charlie Barnet, John Kirby, and Catlett, in addition to leading his own band.[1]
Ramirez wrote "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" in 1942,[2] which became a jazz standard following Billie Holiday's recording of it two years later.[1] He was a freelance into the mid-1950s, when he added electronic organ to his instruments.[1] In 1953 he was in one of Duke Ellington's small groups, as a substitute.[3]
Ramirez again toured Europe in 1968, this time with T-Bone Walker.[1] In 1979 and 1980 he was part of the Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, including for appearances in Germany.[1] He also freelanced after this,[1] and retired for health reasons in 1987.[2] Ramirez was married to Marcy and had a daughter.[2] He died of kidney failure in Queens, New York City[2] on January 11, 1994.[1]
