Stephen Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist (1930-2021). He grew up studying the Great American Songbook masters in the '40s and made his Broadway debut in the '50s. Sondheim wrote songs such as Send in the Clowns. He released albums including Gypsy with Jack Klugman and Ethel Merman, Company, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Into the Woods. Among his most popular songs are The Ballad of Sweeney Todd, Johanna, and The Worst Pies in London. He also released West Side Story. Sondheim appeared in the documentaries Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened and Six by Sondheim.