Danny Winchell (born Daniel Weinshal, September 26, 1926 – February 16, 2011) was an American pop singer, magazine publisher, record producer, music promoter and radio show host.
Musician
As a musician, he released
doo-wop
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...
recordings on
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...
and
Recorte Records between 1952 and 1959
including a hit with "
Carolina in the Morning
"Carolina in the Morning" is a popular song with words by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson, first published in 1922 by Jerome H. Remick & Co.
The song debuted on Broadway in the elaborate and risqué musical revue '' The Passing Show of ...
" in 1952.
[ Winchell released recordings both solo and as a member of ]Nino and the Ebb Tides
Nino and the Ebb Tides were a doo-wop musical group based in the Bronx, New York, formed in 1956.
Their first recording, ''Franny Franny'' (credited to "The Ebb Tides"), was the result of meeting talent scout Murray Jacobs in 1957 and was widely ...
.[
]
Promoter and producer
He was a promotion man at Colpix Records
Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement ov ...
where he became the co-producer of ''“Blue Moon
A blue moon is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: the third of four full moons in a season.
The phrase in modern usage has nothing to do with the actual color of the Moon, although a visually blue Moon (the Moon a ...
”'' by The Marcels
The Marcels were an American doo-wop group known for turning popular music songs into rock and roll. The group formed in 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and signed to Colpix Records with lead Cornelius Harp, bass Fred Johnson, Gene Bricker, R ...
,[ which was #1 on the Billboard Pop chart for three weeks and number one on the R&B chart.] Winchell was directly responsible for Murray the K
Murray Kaufman (February 14, 1922 – February 21, 1982), professionally known as Murray the K, was an influential New York City rock and roll impresario and disc jockey of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. During the early days of Beatlemania, he freque ...
debuting a pre-release copy of the song on his show on WINS.[ The K was so impressed with the song, he played it twenty-six times in his four-hour show the first day, making it a hit before it was released.][ Winchell was summoned to Colpix boss Paul Wexler's office the next day and reprimanded.][
]
Radio host
In his later years, he hosted a weekly radio show on WAMB
WAMB (1130 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a mix of adult contemporary and soft adult contemporary formats. Licensed to Brazil, Indiana, United States, the station serves the Terre Haute area. It first began broadcasting in ...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...
and wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column called ''The Winch Line''.
Personal
He died in Nashville in 2011.[ He was remembered in a tribute to significant musical professionals by ]The Recording Academy
The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...
related to the 54th Annual Grammy Awards
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 12, 2012, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles being broadcast on CBS honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2010 through September 30, 2011. LL Cool J hosted th ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winchell, Danny
1926 births
2011 deaths
Musicians from New York (state)
Radio personalities from New York (state)
Record producers from New York (state)
Doo-wop