Paul Jabara composed many hit songs, including "Last Dance" for Donna Summer, "The Main Event" for Barbra Streisand, "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" (duet for Summer and Streisand), "Take Me Home" for Cher, "Work That Body" for Diana Ross, "It's Raining Men" for The Weathergirls and "Two Lovers" for Julio Iglesias. "Last Dance," featured in the film Thank God It's Friday, earned a Grammy Award and the 1978 Academy Award for Best Song.

Jabara was one of the producers of Streisand's Grammy Award-winning Broadway Album. Among his own record albums were Shut Out, Keeping Time, Paul Jabara and Friends and Paul Jabara's Greatest Hits and Misses.

As an actor Jabara made his Broadway debut in the original cast of Hair, created the role of King Herod in the original London production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and was a member of the original cast of The Rocky Horror Show.

He appeared in the films Midnight Cowboy, The Lords of Flatbush, The Day of the Locust, Medea, Light Sleeper, The Ski Bum, Les Patterson Saves the World, Honky Tonk Freeway, Star 80 and Legal Eagles.

His television credits include The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, American Bandstand, Dinah Shore, Starsky and Hutch, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Equalizer, The Rubber Gun Squad, and the made-for-television films The Last Angry Man and Out of the Darkness.

Jabara co-founded the Red Ribbon Project in 1991, and is credited with conceiving and distributing the first AIDS Red Ribbon.

Paul Jabara died of AIDS in Los Angeles at the age of 44 on September 29, 1992.

—Nurit Tilles

WORKS:

SONGS

All Night Long (Jabara/Roberts)
Alone Again (Esty/Jabara)
Beautiful Dreamer Too (Asher/Jabara)
Beechwood (Jabara)
Better Not Fall Asleep (Asher/Jabara)
Caught In The Act (Esty/Jabara)
Cheaper To Keep Her (Jabara/Nicholas)
Damn I (Jabara/Shaffer)
Dance (Jabara)
Dancin' Lifts Your Spirits Higher (Aller/Esty/Jabara)
De La Noche (Esty/Jabara)
Dear Santa Bring Me A Man This Christmas (Jabara/Shaffer)
Deena's Dilemma (Jabara/Wheeler)
Didn't The Time Go Fast (Aller/Esty/Jabara)
Dinah (Jabara)
Disco Divorce (Asher/Jabara)
Disco Queen (Jabara)
Disco Wedding (Jabara)
East Brooklyn Blues (Jabara)
Endless Love (Asher/Jabara)
Faster Faster (Jabara)
Fight (Esty/Jabara)
Foggy Day (Jabara)
Get Your Show Rolling (Jabara)
Gorgeous Lily (Jabara)
Hands Off You Are Not My Type (Jabara/Roberts)
He Was My Man (Jabara)
Heaven Is A Disco (Jabara)
Honeymoon in Puerto Rico (Jabara/Mathieson)
Hope (Jabara/Mathieson)
Hungry For Love (Jabara)
I'd Clean A Fish For You (Jabara/Roberts)
I've Got What You Want (Jabara/Wheeler)
It All Comes Back To You (Jabara)
It's Your Foot Again (Jabara/Roberts)
Just You And Me (Jabara/Mathieson)
Ladies Hot Line (Jabara/Ross)
Last Dance (Jabara)
Lost People (Asher/Jabara)
Lovin' Somebody (Jabara/Roberts)
Lullaby (Jabara/Roberts)
Macy's Dance Party 2000 (Jabara)
Main Event (Jabara/Roberts)
Mayor's Daughter (Jabara/Lee)
More Than Friends (Jabara/Roberts)
Mister DJ (Jabara)
My Man Ain't Man Enough For Me (Jabara/Lee)
Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor (Jabara/Mathieson/Summer)
New Wave Punk (Jabara/Sager)
No More Excuses (Adler/Jabara/Roberts)
No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (Jabara/Roberts)
Ocho Rios (Issa/Jabara)
One From Your Heart (Jabara/Wolfert)
One Man Ain't Enough (Jabara)
Oxford Blues (Jabara)
Party Sickness (Jabara)
Pleasure Island (Esty/Jabara)
Raining (Jabara/Roberts/Terry)
(It's) Raining Men (Jabara/Shaffer)
Raquel Give The Dish (Jabara)
Rona Mona And Me (Jabara)
Saturday Matinee (Irwin/Jabara)
Search Find Them (Jabara/Wheeler)
Secret Of Life (Jabara)
Shut Out (Esty/Jabara)
Silver Diamond Rhinestone Glass (Jabara)
Slow Dancing (Jabara)
Something's Missing In My Life (Asher/Jabara)
Success (Esty/Jabara)
Summer Lover (Esty/Jabara)
Sun In Your Smile (Jabara)
Sunshine (Asher/Jabara)
Sweet Revenge (Jabara/Lee)
Tattoo Blues (Jabara)
This Girl's Back In Town (Esty/Jabara)
Trapped In A Stairway (Esty/Jabara)
Tuff Times (Jabara/Mronzinsky)
Two Lovers (Asher/Jabara)
Vampire Love (Jabara/Mathieson)
We Go So Well Together (Asher/Jabara)
We Want More Enough Ain't Enough (Jabara/Roberts)
What's A Girl To Do (Jabara)
What's Become Of Love (Asher/Jabara)
When You're The Lord (Jabara/Nicholas)
Who's Got The Money (Asher/Jabara)
Woman In Me (Asher/Jabara)
Work That Body (Chew/Jabara/Ross)
Working For Stella (Jabara)
Wouldn't It Be Nice (Smile) (Jabara)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (Jabara)
You Are Alone (Jabara)

MUSICAL THEATRE

Rachel Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It! (1973)
A New Musical
Book by Paul Jabara and Tom Eyen
Music by Paul Jabara
Lyrics by Paul Jabara, Debin David and Paul Issa
Produced by Robert Stigwood and Ahmet Ertegun at Broadhurst Theatre, New York (1973)

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Unknown

DISCOGRAPHY:

Shut Out - Casablanca (1977)
    Yankee Doodle Dandy (Cohan)
    Hungry For Love
    Sun In Your Smile
    Smile
    It All Comes Back To You
    Shut Out/Heaven Is a Disco
    Dance
    Slow Dancing

The Third Album - Casablanca (1979)
    Disco Wedding
    Honeymoon (In Puerto Rico)
    Disco Divorce
    Foggy Day
    Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor
    Just You And Me
Paul Jabara, Producer - Brenda Russell, Pat Cloud, Brooklyn Dreams, Bruce Roberts, Michele Allen, Patti Brooks, Roberta Margarita Estes, Petsye Powell, Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, background vocals - Victor Feldman, percussion - Greg Mathieson, arranger, conductor, keyboards - Dennis Christianson, Chuck Findley, trumpet - Paulinho Da Costa, percussion - Scott Edwards, bass guitar - John Ferraro, drums, trumpet - Jay Graydon, Paul Jackson Jr., Tim May, guitar - Ed Greene, drums - Gary Herbig, Larry Williams, saxophone - Gayle LaVant, harp - Sid Sharp, strings

Paul Jabara's Greatest Hits — and Misses - Casablanca (1989)
    Overture
    Yankee Doodle Dandy
    Hungry For Love
    Sun In Your Smile
    It All Comes Back To You
    Shut Out/Heaven Is A Disco Dance
    Last Dance
    Trapped In A Stairway
    Disco Queen
    Pleasure Island
    Beautiful Dreamer
    Disco Wedding/Honeymoon (In Puerto Rico)/Disco divorce Something's Missing
    Foggy Day/Never Lose Your Sense Of Humor
    One Man/Finale

Paul Jabara & Friends - Columbia Records (1983)
    Bad Habits (Fields/Price)
    Ladies Hot Line (Jabara/Ross)
    Hurricane Joe (Jabara/Mathieson)
    It's Raining Men (Jabara/Shaffer)
    Eternal Love (Asher/Jabara)
    What's Become Of Love (Asher/Jabara)
    Hope (Esty/Jabara)
Paul Jabara - The Weather Girls, Leata Galloway & Whitney Houston

Keeping Time - Casablanca (1978)
    Didn't The Time Go Fast
    Saturday Matinee
    Trapped In A Stairway
    Take Good Care Of My Baby/What's A Girl To Do
    Dancin' (Lifts Your Spirits Higher)
    Last Dance
    Pleasure Island
    Something's Missing (In My Life)
Paul Jabara, vocals — Pattie Brooks, vocals on "What's A Girl To Do"

Hope (Jabara/Esty) (single) - Motown (1981)
Billy Preston, vocals

FILM

The Main Event/Fight (film soundtrack) - Warner Brothers (1979)
Words and Music by Paul Jabara and Bruce Roberts
Recorded by Barbara Streisand on Columbia Records

Mother Jugs and Speed (film soundtrack) - A&M Records (1976)
Original soundtrack recording with Bill Cosby, Raquel Welch and Harvey Keitel. Featuring songs by Peter Frampton, The Brothers Johnson, Billy Preston, Steve Marriott, Michelle Phillips, The Crusaders and Paul Jabara ["Dance"].

ALSO HEARD ON

The Day of the Locust (film soundtrack) (Paramount) - London (1974)
Paul Jabara, vocals on "Hot Voodoo" (Coslow/Rainger)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• "Music Makers: Paul Jabara And The Direct Approach" by Yardena Arar, Associated Press, November 16, 1979.
• "Paul Jabara, 44, Actor, Singer And Disco Songwriter, Is Dead" by Sheila Rule, The New York Times, October 2, 1992
• Obituary, Billboard, September 30, 1992.
• "Great Leap Forward" by Robert Hofler, Variety, September 29, 2003 (about plans for a stage musical based on Jabara's life, to be written by Jim Geoghan and produced by Robert Wachs).

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
BMI

RESOURCES:
discomuseum.com/PaulJabara.html

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Unknown

OTHER CONTACTS:
Unknown