John Chellis "Jack" Conner (October 3, 1913 – August 20, 2001) was an American marimbist. John Chellis Conner's obituaryArchived
/ref> Conner was born in

Kahoka, Missouri Kahoka is a city in and the county seat of Clark County, in the northeast tip of Missouri, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,961. History Kahoka was platted in 1858. The city is named for the historic Cahokia tribe o ...

in 1913. At the age of six, he began his studies of

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

percussion instrument A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

s. By the age of twelve, he was playing regularly on the radio with the KMOX Junior Orchestra. As a young artist he was a member of the International Marimba Symphony Orchestra during their European tour in 1935. Before pursuing a solo career, he was a member of both the

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is the second-oldest professional symphony or ...

and the

St. Louis Municipal Opera The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheatre, amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first ...

Orchestra and was regularly heard on major

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

radio stations. He served overseas with the

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

in the European theater and he later toured

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

with the

Xavier Cugat Xavier Cugat (; ; 1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was an American musician and bandleader who was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. Originally from Girona, Spain, he spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba, before arriving i ...

Orchestra. As one of the first percussionists to take the marimba and vibraphone into the classical world as solo instruments, he made his New York debut at

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

in 1950. After hearing Conner’s artistry on the instruments,

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

, the French composer, was inspired to compose a concerto for Conner to perform. This Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone was given its world premier with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1948 with

Vladimir Golschmann Vladimir Golschmann (16 December 18931 March 1972) was a French and American conductor. Biography Vladimir Golschmann was born in Paris to a Jewish family. He studied violin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a notable advocate of the m ...

conducting. In addition to his classical career, Conner was a

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 ...

musician, especially in the New York City area. He was associated with

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

, the pianist, with whom he had a 25-year association. He also performed with the

Don Ho Donald Tai Loy Ho (; August 13, 1930 – April 14, 2007) was a Hawaiian traditional pop musician, singer, and entertainer. He is best known for the song "Tiny Bubbles" from the 1966 album of the same name. Early life, family and education Ho ...

show in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

and served as music director and conductor for

Anita Bryant Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and anti-gay rights activist. She had three top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ...

. He also appeared on numerous radio and television programs such as

Merv Griffin Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. (July 6, 1925 – August 12, 2007) was an American television show host and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer, later appearing in film and on Broadway theatre, Broadway. From 1962 to 1986, G ...

Mike Douglas Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. (August 11, 1920Cook County Birth Certificates, file number 6053268, borAugust 11, 1920/ref>Social Security Death Index, Michael D. Dowd Jr., Birth: 11 Aug 1920, death: 11 Aug 2006 residing in North Palm Beach, FL, acce ...

and the

Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 to ...

. Conner’s greatest love was inspirational and

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Reli ...

and he had a longtime association with

Youth for Christ Youth For Christ (YFC) is a worldwide Christian movement working with young people, whose main purpose is evangelism among teenagers. It began informally in New York City in 1940, when Jack Wyrtzen held evangelical Protestant rallies for teenager ...

and

World Vision The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

, and his ministry in

Christian music Christian music is a genre of music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christianity, Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence and lament, and its f ...

took him into concert halls, theaters, and churches throughout the world. He was also a producer of Christian films such as “In God We Trust”, which he wrote and in which he played a major role. He made numerous recordings featuring both the marimba and vibraphone. In 1990, he was presented the honorary degree, Doctor of Sacred Music, by Trinity College of Florida. He spent his later years performing with his son and daughter-in-law as “The Conners in Concert.”

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conner, John Chellis 1913 births 2001 deaths American marimbists American performers of Christian music People from Kahoka, Missouri 20th-century American musicians American jazz vibraphonists