Biff Rose, born Paul Conrad Rose III (October 15, 1937 – July 25, 2023), was an American comedian and singer-songwriter.
Biography
Rose[1] was born in
New Orleans, Louisiana on October 15, 1937.[2][3] After moving to New york, he joined the Greenwich Village folk scene as a banjo playing singer/comedian. His popularity lead to a
New York Times profile.[4] Rose used the profile to generate momentum in his career. He moved to Hollywood where he worked as an actor and writer. While working in television, Rose met
Paul Williams. The duo started a short songwriting partnership and composed several songs including ‘Fill Your Heart’, which was covered by
David Bowie and ‘When Love is Far Away’, featured in
Crazy Rich Asians.[5][6]
The song "Fill Your Heart" is Rose's best known composition. Co-written by
Paul Williams, the song was covered
Tiny Tim on the B-side of his 1968 hit single "
Tiptoe through the Tulips".
Yes Keyboard player
Rick Wakeman worked as a session musician on Hunky Dory .[13] He noted, "I remember going out and getting a Biff Rose album myself as he had obviously influenced David." [14]
In October 2017,
Indy Week pointed out that Rose's website contained "blatantly racist and
anti-Semitic material." In an interview with Nate Waggoner, Rose, " expresses some views that are definitely not my own." In a published emailed rebuttal, Rose offered racist ideas about Islam as a defense against being anti-Semitic.[20] He continued to post racist and anti-Semitic language and ideas on his websites and social media accounts, including drawings that used visual
ethnic stereotypes and graphic depictions of
homophobia and
misogyny.[21][22]