[Dixielandjazz] washingtonpost.com Composer Ray Conniff Dies at 85

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washingtonpost.com: Composer Ray Conniff Dies at 85submitted by Joseph R.
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washingtonpost.com
Composer Ray Conniff Dies at 85

By Kate Berry
Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 14, 2002; 1:03 AM
LOS ANGELES –– Ray Conniff, the composer, trombone player and bandleader who
won a Grammy Award for his recording of the "Dr. Zhivago" theme "Somewhere
My Love," has died. He was 85.
Conniff died at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido on Saturday after
falling down and hitting his head, San Diego medical examiner's investigator
Angela Wagner told The Associated Press.
Conniff had more than 100 recordings and produced 25 Top 40 albums for
Columbia Records.
He rendered such classics as "Besame Mucho," "New York, New York," and "S'
Wonderful," in a career that spanned six decades.
He produced 10 gold and two platinum records. He won CBS Records' Best
Selling Artist for 1962 for the recording, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."
The Ray Conniff Orchestra and Singers epitomized the lounge-singing style of
the 1950s and 1960s with a mix of wordless vocal choruses and light
orchestral accompaniment.
Though he got his start as a trombone player in the Big Band era playing
with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby and Artie Shaw, Conniff broke out as a solo
artist after being hired as a house arranger with Columbia Records in 1951.
He was responsible for Johnny Mathis' "Chances Are," Frankie Laine's
"Moonlight Gambler," Johnnie Ray's "Just Walking in the Rain," and Guy
Mitchell's "Singing the Blues."
In 1956, Columbia decided to try out Conniff as a featured performer with a
big-band mix that included guitarists Al Caiola and Tony Mottola. His debut
album, "S'Wonderful," in which he combined a chorus of four men and four
women with a traditional big band mix of 18 instruments, stayed on the Top
20 charts for nine months.
A 1962 article in McCall's magazine described his band as "singers who
'play' their voices as though they were instruments, more like subtly fluted
woodwinds than singing."
A few of Conniff's singers were known studio vocalists including Loulie Jean
Norman and B.J. Baker. Jay Meyer assisted as conductor.
Conniff's instrumental arrangements provided easy listening for a booming
adult album market.
His popularity waned with the rise of rock 'n' roll but stars such as The
Carpenters, Simon and Garfunkel, The Fifth Dimension and Bert Bacharach
benefited from his arrangements with recordings of "Laughter in the Rain,"
"I Write the Songs," and "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing."
Conniff received countless international awards, continued touring and
produced about an album a year.
He performed at the White House during the Vietnam War and in 1974 was the
first pop artist asked to record an album in Moscow. In 2001, he gave a
series of concerts in Brazil. He performed "Somewhere My Love" at the
wedding of David Gest and Liza Minnelli in March.
Born in November 1916 in Attleboro, Mass., Conniff gained much of his
musical experience from his father, a trombone player, who led a local band
while his mother played the piano.
Conniff led a local band while in high school. He moved to Boston and began
playing with Dan Murphy's Musical Skippers. He moved to New York during the
swing era in the mid-'30s and landed a job playing and arranging for Berigan
in 1937.
By 1939, he moved to Hollywood to join Bob Crosby's Bobcats, one of the
hottest bands of the time.
"He was always reinventing himself, that's how he was able to continue his
popularity for so many years," said fan club official Warren Pischke.
Conniff is survived by his wife, Vera, and a daughter, Tamara Conniff.
© 2002 The Associated Press