I listen primarily to Classical, and of course two of his biggest hits were lifted straight out of Rachmaninov pieces, so I just kind of had him pegged as some plagiarizing low life. Later he became a meme between my wife and I, because if one of us had to beg off some obligation that we had to leave the other spouse to fulfill, the stuck spouse would sing “I’ll have to go all by myself…”
I finally Googled him not long ago and he at least was up front about his borrowings, apparently having stemmed by a real love of Rachmaninov. Not that he could have denied it because they are so blatant, and yes must have profited quite handsomely, but his heart was in the right place.
R.I.P.