Katharine Faulkner "Kay" Swift (April 19, 1897 – January 28, 1993) was a pioneering American composer known for her contributions to both popular and classical music. Born in New York City to Samuel Shippen Swift, a music critic, and Ellen Faulkner, Swift was immersed in a musical environment from a young age. She began composing at five and received formal training at the Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School), studying piano under Bertha Tapper and composition with Charles Martin Loeffler and Percy Goetschius.

Swift made history as the first woman to write the complete score for a Broadway musical with her 1930 hit show "Fine and Dandy," which included the jazz standard of the same name. Her song "Can't We Be Friends?" from the 1929 Broadway production "The Little Show" was her biggest hit. Her first husband, James Paul Warburg, a banker and lyricist under the pen name Paul James, collaborated with her on many of her songs. Their marriage ended in 1934, partly due to her long-standing relationship with the renowned composer George Gershwin, whom she met in 1925. Gershwin encouraged her shift towards popular music, and the two maintained a close personal and professional relationship until his death in 1937.

Swift's career extended beyond Broadway. She composed the music for George Balanchine's ballet "Alma Mater" in 1934 and served as a staff composer for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. She later became the Director of Light Music for the 1939 World's Fair. Her life in Oregon with her second husband, Faye Hubbard, inspired her autobiographical novel "Who Could Ask For Anything More?" which was adapted into the film "Never a Dull Moment" in 1950, featuring a score by Swift.

Swift's devotion to Gershwin's legacy was evident in her work on posthumous Gershwin projects, including the creation of "Dawn of a New Day" for the 1939 World's Fair and the score for the film "The Shocking Miss Pilgrim." Her intimate knowledge of Gershwin's music allowed her to preserve many of his works, which she continued to transcribe until shortly before her death.

Kay Swift passed away at the age of 95 in Southington, Connecticut. Her life and work have been celebrated in various forms, including her feature in the PBS American Masters Series "Yours for a Song: The Women of Tin Pan Alley." Her granddaughter, Katharine Weber, chronicled Swift's fascinating life and her relationship with Gershwin in the memoir "The Memory Of All That."