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Bill Giant

American songwriter

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ4909129
Source-derived summary

Bill Giant (March 2, 1930 – November 26, 1987) was an American songwriter whose work included over 40 songs for Elvis Presley.

Biography

Giant grew up in New York City and was known as Bill "Harvey" Zimmerman. His other memorable name was Billy Merman. He was part of the popular songwriting team Giant, Baum, and Kaye, writing songs with Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye. The majority of their work was used in Presley movies, although their most popular recording was "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" which reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the U.K. singles chart in 1963. They were also credited with writing the American version of Osamu Tezuka's anime Kimba the White Lion (1965). Giant became a realtor in Middlesex County, New Jersey, in his later years. He died in 1987 at the age of 57.

Other works

His other works include songs in these films:

Roustabout

Viva Las Vegas (The title track was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman.)

Fun in Acapulco

Girls! Girls!

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Bill Giant” as american songwriter. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bill, Giant and American.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1930, 1987, 1963, 1965—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1930-03-02, 1930-05-02—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Bill, Giant and American providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Bill Giant”, the useful work is to connect “american songwriter” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4909129. VIAF identifies the subject as 4399832. The Library of Congress control number is n2008016383. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1987, 1963 and 1965.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Locating named sources
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  2. Expand the search: follow Bill Giant primary sources, Bill Giant archive and Bill research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Bill Giant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.