James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist, his trademark "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom, with 65 of his albums reaching the charts in the UK alone. His composition " Happy Heart" became an international success in interpretations by

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

and

Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...

. Last is reported to have sold an estimated 200 million records worldwide in his lifetime of which 80 million were sold by 1973 and won numerous awards including 200 gold and 14 platinum discs in Germany, the International MIDEM Prize at MIDEM in 1969, and

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

's highest civilian award, the Bundesverdienstkreuz. His album '' This Is James Last'' remained a UK best-seller for 48 weeks, and his song " Games That Lovers Play" has been covered over a hundred times. Last undertook his final tour months before his death at age 86, upon discovering in September 2014 that an illness had worsened. His final UK performance was his 90th at London's

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, more than any other performer except

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

. Last's trademark sound employed big band arrangements of well-known tunes with a jaunty dance beat, often heavy on bass and brass. Despite at times being derided by critics and purists as the "king of

elevator music Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in elevators, in rooms where many people come together for reasons other than listening to music, and during telephone calls when placed on ho ...

" or "acoustic

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating, soaking or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal ...

", his style and music were popular in numerous countries and cultures, including Japan, South Korea, the former

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the US and UK, and his native Germany, where it became "the archetypal soundtrack of any German cellar bar party", and made him the "most commercially successful bandleader" of the second half of the 20th century.

Early life

Last was born to Louis and Martha Last in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Germany. He was the younger brother of Robert Last and Werner Last (aka Kai Warner). His father worked for the public utility of the city of Bremen and Last grew up in the suburb of Sebaldsbrück. He began studying the piano at age 10, although he could play simple tunes such as the folk song " Hänschen klein" when he was 9. His first music teacher felt he lacked any musical talent. Last started playing more actively with his second tutor and switched to the

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

as a teenager. His home city of Bremen was bombed heavily during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and he ran messages to air defence command posts during the raids. He entered the Bückeburg Military Music School of the German

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

at the age of 14 and learned to play

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, piano and

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

. After the end of the war, he joined Hans Günther Oesterreich's Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra. In 1948 he became the leader of the Last-Becker Ensemble, which performed for seven years. He was voted as the best bassist in the country in a German

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

poll for 1950, 1951 and 1952. When the Last-Becker Ensemble disbanded, he became the in-house arranger for

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

, as well as a number of European radio stations. During the next decade he helped arrange hits for artists such as Helmut Zacharias, Freddy Quinn,

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

, Alfred Hause and Caterina Valente.

Work

Last first released albums in the U.S. under the titles ''The American Patrol'' on Warner Bros. Records around 1964. He also released a series of nine albums in a series called ''Classics Up To Date'' which served up arrangements of classical melodies with strings, rhythm and wordless chorus from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s. Last's 1965 album, '' Non Stop Dancing,'' was a recording of brief renditions of popular songs, all tied together by an insistent dance beat and crowd noises. It was a hit and helped make him a major European star. Over the next four decades, Last released over 190 records, including several more volumes of ''Non Stop Dancing''. On these records, he varied his formula by adding different songs from different countries and genres, as well as guest performers like Richard Clayderman and Astrud Gilberto. He also had his own successful television series throughout the 1970s with guests including

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

and Lynsey de Paul which was screened across Europe. Last's trademark sound employed big band arrangements of well-known tunes with a jaunty dance beat, often heavy on bass and brass. Though his concerts and albums were consistently successful, especially in the UK, where he had 52 hit albums between 1967 and 1986, which made him second only to

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

in charting records, he had relatively few hit singles. In the UK, his only chart singles were "The Seduction", a cover version of the theme from '' American Gigolo'' (1980) composed by

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

, and "Biscaya" from the album ''Biscaya''. His single "Mornings at Seven" became a familiar tune in Britain after the BBC used it as the theme music for an ice skating program. Figures for record sales vary widely, between 100 million at that time by 2006 and 200 million records worldwide in his lifetime. In the US, where "The Seduction" became a Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 28 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary chart in May 1980. Last was somewhat more successful on the singles charts. In 2003, his song " Einsamer Hirte" (The Lonely Shepherd) which features the pan flute of Gheorghe Zamfir appeared on the soundtrack of the Quentin Tarantino movie '' Kill Bill Volume 1''. He won numerous popular and professional awards, including ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine's Star of the Year trophy in 1976, and was honoured for lifetime achievement with the German

ECHO In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

prize in 1994. His song "Music from Across the Way" (recorded by Andy Williams in 1972) is a melody with a classical feeling and was a worldwide hit; it was the only other Last single apart from "The Seduction" to reach the U.S. Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 84 (and No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart) in late 1971. (His only other U.S. chart single was a double-sided entry featuring remakes of the Village Stompers' " Washington Square" and

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

's " Proud Mary", which reached No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1971). Last was awarded the Carl Alan Award by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

for being the leader of the most popular dance band of 1981. In Canada, he had three hits on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' Top Singles charts ("

El Cóndor Pasa EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a List of Shugo Chara! characters#El, character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (Stranger Things), Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fiction ...

" at No. 46, "Music from Across the Way" at No. 28, "The Seduction" at No. 32) and four on the Adult Contemporary/MOR charts ("Music from..." at No. 2, "Heart of Gold" at No. 17, "The Seduction" at No. 36, "Reach for a Star" at No. 20). Songs composed by Last which achieved success in the US include " Happy Heart" and "Music from Across the Way", both recorded by

, "Games That Lovers Play", recorded by Eddie Fisher, and " Fool", recorded by

. By the time of his farewell tour in the spring of 2015, Last was reported to have sold well over 100 million albums. His signature piece was " Orange Blossom Special". He played this at almost every concert. He encouraged the band to have fun with it and sometimes the band members would go into the audience and make a conga line with duck head umbrellas. It was always a popular piece at his concerts. In February 2015, after almost 50 years on tour, James Last announced that he was finally bidding adieu to the stage. The last concert of his Non Stop Music James Last in Concert 2015 farewell tour took place in

Lanxess Arena Lanxess Arena (stylized as LANXESS arena; originally Kölnarena, German for "Cologne arena") is an indoor arena, in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is known as the 18,500-capacity home of the Kölner Haie and as one of Germany's major ...

in Cologne on 26 April 2015.

Personal life

Last married his first wife, Waltraud, in 1955; they had two children. After 42 years of marriage, Waltraud died in 1997. Two years later, Last married Christine Grundner from

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. Last and Christine divided their time between homes in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Financial difficulties

Despite being the "most commercially successful bandleader" of the second half of the 20th century, Last's extravagant spending and "incompetent" financial advice led him at one stage to the "brink of ruin". James Last did not make as big a fortune as his immense record sales would suggest. He fell victim to a number of investment fraudsters, starting with his tax advisor. He bought oil rigs, wineries and cotton fields in the US as depreciation assets. When he wanted to visit his wineries in 1985, it turned out that none of the projects existed. As a result, the tax breaks ceased, and there were large additional claims. Last was barely prevented from selling his publishing rights. He took out a loan from the Hamburger Sparkasse and was not financially debt-free again until shortly before his 70th birthday.

Illness, final tour and death

In September 2014 Last learned that a "life threatening" illness had worsened (the exact details were never disclosed), and in early 2015 he announced his retirement from touring would take place following a final "goodbye tour", which commenced in Germany and ended in London. Last died less than three months later, on 9 June 2015 in Florida at the age of 86. Writing in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', Spencer Leigh suggested that Last's Non-Stop Dancing albums "paved the way for disco and dance mixes". Asked if he minded being labelled the "King of Corn", Last reportedly replied "No, because it is true."

Awards

List of awards: * MIDEM-Trophy, Cannes for 1 million ''non Stop Dancing'' records. * Deutscher Schallplattenpreis from ''Fono Forum'' for the new arrangement of Bertholt Brecht's ''Dreigroschenoper''. * ''Europa'' – Europawelle Saar. * ''Goldenes Grammophon'', Munich. * ''Silber Möwe'', Hamburg. * ''Gold Leaf Award'' (Canada) for ''Super Non Stop Dancing''. * ''Gold Leaf Award'' (Canada) for ''James Dos His Thing''. * ''Gold Award'', Record World ''Top German Orchestra''. * ''Country Musik Award'', (ASCAO) for ''When The Snow Is On The Rose''. * ''ASCAP Award'' for Elvis Presley recording of ''Fool''. * ''Goldene Westfalenhalle''. * ''Goldener Notenschlüssel'' from the German Music Publisher Sikorski. * ''Ehrenlöwe'' from Radio Luxembourg. * ''Star Of The Year'' Trophy from Music Week and Billboard, London. * ''Robert Stolz-Preis'' from the Robert-Stolz-Stiftung. * ''Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande'' from the German President Walter Scheel. * ''Die Goldene Kamera'' – Hörzu. * Award from Cashbox for ''The Seduction'' for the best instrumental production of the year. * Special-Prize for 52 Chart-Albums, Great Britain. * ''Goldene Stimmgabel'' from ZDF 1991. * ''Goldene Eins'' 1994. * ''Echo 1994 Life Award'' 1995. * ''Goldene Europa'' 1998.

Discography

Productions of James Last: (As Hans Last, Orlando and James Last)

Studio albums

Live albums

* ''Freddy Live'' (1968) (live concert with Freddy Quinn) * ''Live in Copenhagen'' (1970) (bootleg based on radio broadcast, not official release) * ''James Last Live'' (1974) (2 LP-album) * ''Live in Hannover'' (1976) (bootleg based on radio broadcast, not official release) * ''Live in London'' (1978) (2 LP-album) * ''Live in London'' (1979) (bootleg based on radio broadcast, not official release) * ''Live in Tokyo'' (1979) (bootleg based on radio broadcast, not official release) * ''The Berlin-Concert ’87'' (1987) * ''Live at the Royal Albert Hall'' (1990) (bootleg based on radio broadcast, not official release) * ''The Best of Live on Tour'' (1998) * ''Concerts'' (1999) * ''Gentleman of Music'' (2000) * ''A World of Music'' (2002) * ''Live in Europe'' (2006) * ''Live at the

'' (released as 1 DVD-edition and 2 CD-edition) (2008) * ''Music is My World'' (2011) (first three tracks only; the rest is a compilation of old studio recordings)

Soundtracks

* ''

Morning's at Seven ''Morning's at Seven'' is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern United States, Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question the ...

'' (1968) * '' When Sweet Moonlight Is Sleeping in the Hills'' (1969) * '' The Captain'' (1971) * '' Schwarzwaldfahrt aus Liebeskummer'' (1974) * ''Grenzenloses Himmelblau'' (1985) * '' Traumschiff-Melodien'' (1986) * ' (1988) * '' Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps'' (2007)

Singles (selection)

* ''Tricks in Rhythm'' (1959) (EP, single) * "Midnight in December" (1966) (single) * " The Lonely Shepherd" with Gheorghe Zamfir (1977) (single) (used in a number of films)

Compilation albums (selection)

* ''Fanfare'' (1967) * ''Does His Thing (Happy Music)'' (1970) * ''El Condor Pasa'' (1971) * ''In Concert 2'' (1971) * ''Super Non-Stop Dancing'' (1972) * ''Olé'' (1973) * ''Stereo Spectacular'' (1973) * ''Il Y A Toujours Du Soleil (Golden Hearts)'' (James Last & Richard Clayderman) (1990) * ''Country Cousins'' (1992) * ''Best of Kapt'n James'' (1998) * ''Classics Up to Date 8'' (1998) * ''Sólo Éxitos'' (Polydor 543 686-2 Venezuela 2001) * ''Die schönsten TV- und Filmmelodien'' (2006) * ''In Los Angeles'' (Well Kept Secret 1975) (2008) * ''Eighty Not Out'' (released as a 3-CD edition) (2010) * ''Gold Top 100'' (Brunswick 5CD 533 240-1 DE 2011) * ''The Complete Collection'' (Universal 8CD 533 347-4 IT 2011) * ''Glanzlichter'' (Koch Universal 277 198-4 DE 2011) * ''Classic Christmas'' (Spectrum Music SPEC 2083 UK 2011) * ''Christmas With Romance'' (Universal 533 619-2 IT 2011) * ''Voodoo-Party / Well Kept Secret'' (Vocalion 2on1 CDSML 8477 UK 2011) * ''My Personal Favourites'' (Polydor 2CD 470 979-9 DE 2014) * ''Happy Summer Night / Rock Me Gently'' (Vocalion 2on1 CDLK 4539 UK 2014) * ''World Hits / Hair'' (Vocalion 2CD CDSML 8507 UK 2014) * ''Beachparty'' (Polydor 4CD 472 433-2 DE 2015) * ''Dancing à gogo'' (Polydor 4CD 472 544-1 DE 2015) * ''Silver Collection'' (RISA / Force10Music / Universal BUDCD 1400 (435 399–0) ZA 2015) * ''Ich find' Schlager toll'' (Polydor 536 934 4 DE 2016)

Chart positions

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* *
"Relentlessly happy - James Last at 85"
Deutsche welle, 2014-04-16 {{DEFAULTSORT:Last, James 1929 births 2015 deaths 20th-century German musicians Easy listening musicians German bandleaders German composers German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) German expatriates in the United States German jazz bandleaders German jazz composers German jazz double-bassists German male double-bassists German male songwriters Jazz arrangers German male jazz composers Musicians from Bremen (city) Polydor Records artists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Warner Records artists James Last Orchestra members Last-Becker Ensemble members Burials at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery