De Vorzon was born to a musical family in New York City. His father was singer and violinist Jules De Vorzon. His family moved to Palm Springs, California when he was a teenager.[1][2][3]
Songwriting
De Vorzon's earliest hit compositions were "Just Married" (1958), written with Al Allen[4] and recorded by Marty Robbins, which reached number 26 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart and number one on the Country chart;[5] and "Dreamin'" (1960), written with Ted Ellis,[6] recorded by Johnny Burnette, and charting at number 11 on the Hot 100.[7]Dorsey Burnette (whom he was managing) and De Vorzon co-wrote several of Dorsey's hits ("Hey, Little One"; "Big Rock Candy Mountain"; "Red Roses"; "Noah's Ark").
De Vorzon co-founded Valiant Records with publishing associate Billy Sherman in 1960.[8][9] During the 1960s, he signed the Association to Valiant, and produced its first single, a cover of the Bob Dylan tune "One Too Many Mornings".
De Vorzon wrote "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight" for the Cascades, but the group did not record it. In 1963, De Vorzon made his own recording of the song with his group Barry & the Tamerlanes. Also in 1963 he co-wrote the ballad "Shy Girl", which was recorded by The Cascades.
De Vorzon wrote the tune "Girls" for Johnny Burnette. It reached No. 37 in the UK 1961 charts.
De Vorzon composed the tune "It's Christmas Once Again in Santa Barbara," which was re-recorded with various other city names, such as San Francisco and San Diego. He also wrote the "Theme from S.W.A.T." and co-wrote the Eagles' hit "In the City" with Joe Walsh. In 1979 he wrote the music for the movie The Warriors.
De Vorzon was one of the developers of the MasterWriter creative software for songwriters and lyricists.[10]
