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Christmas With Conniff
''Christmas with Conniff'' is a 1959 album from Ray Conniff of mostly secular holiday songs. The lone exception is the inclusion of "Greensleeves", also one of the few ballads on this album. For the most part, the album relies on uptempo A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ... songs like "Here Comes Santa Claus" and "Frosty the Snowman". Track listing References {{Authority control 1959 Christmas albums Columbia Records Christmas albums Ray Conniff albums Christmas albums by American artists Covers albums Pop Christmas albums ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Conniff
Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s. Biography Conniff was born November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, United States, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book. Early career After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ... (where he worked under Walter Schumann), he joined the Artie Shaw big band and wrote many arrangements for him. After his stint with Shaw, he was hired in 1954 by Mitch Miller, head of A&R at Columbia Records, as the label's home arranger, working with several artists including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haven Gillespie
James Lamont Gillespie (February 6, 1888 – March 14, 1975) pen name Haven Gillespie, was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of " You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", " That Lucky Old Sun", " Breezin' Along With The Breeze", " Right or Wrong," " Beautiful Love", "Drifting and Dreaming", and " Louisiana Fairy Tale" (Fats Waller's recording of which was used as the first theme song in the PBS Production of '' This Old House''), each song in collaboration with other people such as Beasley Smith, Ervin R. Schmidt, Richard A. Whiting, Wayne King, and Loyal Curtis. He also wrote the seasonal standard " Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town". Life and career Gillespie was one of nine children of Anna (Reilley) and William F. Gillespie. The family was poor and lived in the basement of a house on Third Street between Madison Avenue and Russell Street in Covington, Kentucky. Gillespie dropped out of school in grade four and could not find a job. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson ( ) (June 29, 1908 – May 18, 1975) was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler. John Williams described him as "one of the great American masters of light orchestral music." Early life Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Swedish parents, Anderson was given his first piano lessons by his mother, who was a church organist. He continued studying piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1925, Anderson entered Harvard College, where he studied musical harmony with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, canon and fugue with William C. Heilman, orchestration with Edward B. Hill and Walter Piston, composition, also with Piston, and double bass with Gaston Dufresne. He also studied organ with Henry Gideon. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude in 1929 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa."Syncopated Clock, Indeed" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sleigh Ride
"Sleigh Ride" is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrumental versions. The lyrics, about riding in a sleigh and other fun wintertime activities, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. Anderson also made arrangements for wind band and piano. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra. "Sleigh Ride" was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal, and has become one of the orchestra's signature songs. The 45 rpm version was originally issued on red vinyl. The Pops have also recorded the song with John Williams, their conductor from 1979 to 1995, and Keith Lockhart, their current conductor. The Ronettes recorded a cover of "Sleigh Ride" in 1963 for Phil Spector's '' A Christmas Gift for You'', which was commercially successful in the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Marks
John David Marks (November 10, 1909 – September 3, 1985) was an American songwriter. He specialized in Christmas songs (although he himself was Jewish and did not celebrate Christmas) and wrote many holiday standards, including " Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a hit for Gene Autry and others), " Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (a hit for Brenda Lee), " A Holly Jolly Christmas" (recorded by the Quinto Sisters and later by Burl Ives), " Silver and Gold" (for Burl Ives), and " I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (introduced by Bing Crosby). He is also credited with writing " Run Rudolph Run" (recorded by Chuck Berry) but this is due to his trademark of the Rudolph character, rather than any input in the writing of the song. Personal life Marks was born in Mount Vernon, New York. A graduate of McBurney School in New York, NY, and Colgate University and Columbia University, Marks later studied in Paris. He earned a Bronze Star and four Battle Stars as an Army Captain in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (song)
"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a song by songwriter Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949. History In 1939, Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May, created the character Rudolph as an assignment for Montgomery Ward, and Marks decided to adapt the story of Rudolph into a song. English singer-songwriter and entertainer Ian Whitcomb interviewed Marks on the creation of the song in 1972. The song had an added introduction, paraphrasing the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" (public domain by the time the song was written), stating the names of the eight reindeer, which went: "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, But do you recall The most famous reindeer of all?" The song was first introduced live on New York Radio (WOR) by crooner Harry Brannon in November 1949. Gene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Bernhard Smith
Richard Bernhard Smith (September 29, 1901 – September 29, 1935) was an American composer who wrote the lyrics to the popular Christmas song "Winter Wonderland", which was composed by Felix Bernard. Smith was born on September 29, 1901, in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, the son of Eliza (Brunig) and John H. Smith, a partner with a glass manufacturing plant. His family was Episcopalian. He graduated Honesdale School in 1920 and attended Pennsylvania State College. Smith married Jean Connor, of Scranton, on March 30, 1930. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ... in 1931. He succumbed to the disease on September 29, 1935, his thirty-fourth birthday, in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. He was buried in Dyberry Cemetery, Honesdale, Pennsylvania ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Bernard
Felix William Bernard (April 28, 1897 – October 20, 1944) was an American conductor, pianist and a composer of popular music. His writing credits include the popular songs "Winter Wonderland" (with lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith, Richard B. Smith) and "Dardanella". Biography Felix Bernard (Bernhardt) was born to a Jewish family in New York City on April 28, 1897, and died in Los Angeles, California, on October 20, 1944. A professional pianist from childhood, his early musical studies were with his father, and his formal musical education was from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and CR. Bernard wrote professional one-act musical comedies for vaudeville, and he toured throughout the United States with the Orpheum and Keith Vaudeville Circuit, and also abroad. Bernard worked as a pianist for dance orchestras and music publishers before forming his own band. His also had his own radio show which he produced. Best known as a composer, Bernard found success writing musical materia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Wonderland
"Winter Wonderland" is a song written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and lyricist Richard Bernhard Smith. Due to its seasonal theme, it is often regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere. Since its original recording by Richard Himber, it has been covered by over 200 different artists. The song's lyrics were about a couple's romance during the winter season. A later version of "Winter Wonderland" (which was printed in 1947) included a "new children's lyric" that transformed it "from a romantic winter interlude to a seasonal song about playing in the snow." The snowman mentioned in the song's bridge was changed from a minister to a circus clown, and the promises the couple made in the final verse were replaced with lyrics about frolicking. Singers like Johnny Mathis connected both versions of the song, giving "Winter Wonderland" an additional verse and an additional chorus.Lankford, pp. 110-111 History Smith, a native of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was reportedly insp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakley Haldeman
Oakley W. Haldeman (July 17, 1909 – December 17, 1986) was an American songwriter ("Here Comes Santa Claus"), composer, author and the general manager for a music publisher. He joined ASCAP in 1949, and his other popular-song compositions include "Brush Those Tears from Your Eyes", "I Wish I Had Never Met Sunshine", "Tho' I Tried", "Pretty Mary", "Texas Polka", "Honey Child", "Vic'try Train", "Last Mile", and "Texans Never Cry". Haldeman was born in California, the son of Catherine (Oakley) and Clarence Edward Haldeman. He was the head of Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...'s publishing company, and it was while he was in this position that Autry asked him to write the music for Autry's song ''Here Comes Santa Claus''. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/Anaheim/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997. From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films, and between 1950 and 1956 hosted '' The Gene Autry Show'' television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true. Autry was also one of the most important pioneering figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers. His singing cowboy films were the first vehicle to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Here Comes Santa Claus
"Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular Christmas song written and originally performed by Gene Autry, with music composed by Oakley Haldeman. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Claus") was a top-10 hit on the pop and country charts; the song would go on to be covered many times in the subsequent decades. History Autry got the idea for the song after riding his horse in the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade (now the Hollywood Christmas Parade) in Los Angeles, during which crowds of spectators chanted, ''"Here comes Santa Claus"''. This inspired him to write a song that Haldeman set to music. Autry's lyrics combined two veins of the Christmas tradition, the mythology of Santa Claus and the Christian origin of the holiday (most explicitly in its mention of the nativity promise of "peace on Earth" to those who " follow the light"). A demo recording was made by singer/guitarist Johnny Bond, whose recording made use of ic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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