Al Brackman was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA and died October 9, 1992 in La Jolla, California, USA, aged 80. Brackman was co-founder in 1941 of The Richmond Organization, a music publishing and promotion company which issued sheet music from artists like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. Brackman used the name Albert Stanton as co-writer on some of the songs he published, notably "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".