Martin Manning (April 26, 1916 – November 22, 1971) was a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-winning American

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

and conductor of

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

, most noted for his work at

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in the 1950s and early 1960s when he was "one of the most in-demand arrangers and conductors on the New York studio scene".

Biography

He was born in

Haverhill, Massachusetts Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States census. Located o ...

, and learned the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. By the early 1940s, he was established as a freelance arranger and worked on radio shows for both

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. He started working regularly for Columbia Records in the early 1950s, and found success in 1953 when

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

's recording of "

Rags to Riches Rags to riches (also rags-to-riches) refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype i ...

", recorded with

Percy Faith Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian–American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of instrumental ballads and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizin ...

's orchestra and arranged by Manning, reached number one on the US pop chart for eight weeks. From then on, he worked regularly in providing orchestral backing for the label's star singers, including Bennett,

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop music, pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My ...

, Buddy Greco,

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 ...

Robert Goulet Robert Gérard Goulet (November 26, 1933 October 30, 2007) was an American‐Canadian singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry. Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts, until age 13, and then spent his formative years in Canad ...

, and

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

. In 1962, Manning won a

for Best Background Arrangement on Tony Bennett's "

I Left My Heart in San Francisco "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, best known as the signature song of Tony Bennett. It was written in late-1953 in Brooklyn, New York, with music by George Cory (1920–1978) and lyrics by Douglass Cross (1920–1975). I ...

".Biography by Eugene Chadbourne, ''AllMusic.com''
Retrieved 26 September 2015 On many of his recordings, Manning worked closely with

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Ernie Altschuler (1922–1973). In 1960, Manning and Altschuler collaborated on an album, ''The Twilight Zone: a sound adventure in space'', which took its title and opening theme from the popular television series. Credited to Marty Manning and his Orchestra, the LP featured outer space oriented tunes recorded with top

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

s including

Mundell Lowe James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician. He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the '' Billy Jack'' soundtra ...

(guitar),

Jerry Murad Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica-based group. Background The earliest iteration of The Harmonicats was known as the Harmonica Madcaps, later renamed The Quintones by Jimmy Mulcay, who promoted and produced the group until 1 ...

(harmonica), Harry Breuer (vibraphone), and Phil Kraus (percussion). Soprano Lois Hunt provided wordless vocals, and

Teo Macero Attilio Joseph "Teo" Macero (October 30, 1925 – February 19, 2008) was an American jazz record producer, saxophonist, and composer. He was a producer at Columbia Records for twenty years. Macero produced Miles Davis' ''Bitches Brew'' and Dave B ...

was credited with special effects. Manning himself was credited with playing the serpent,

Ondioline The Ondioline is an electronic analog synthesizer, developed and built by Frenchman Georges Jenny. Sometimes referred to as the "Jenny Ondioline," the instrument is considered a forerunner of the synthesizer. First conceived by Jenny in 1939, he ...

, and ''

ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , ) or ondes musicales () is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a lateral-vibrato Keyboard instrument, keyboard or by moving a ring tied to a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. D ...

''. "Marty Manning", ''SpaceAgePop''
Retrieved 26 September 2015 During the 1960s, Manning worked for labels other than Columbia, and contributed arrangements for

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (; born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, one of the most popular black female recording artists of the 1950s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a ...

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' hit aged 12 i ...

the Ventures The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson (musician), Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar acro ...

and others. In 1970, he joined Altschuler at

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

, where he worked on arrangements for

Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...

. Malcolm Macfarlane, Ken Crossland, ''Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record'', McFarland, 2012, p.132
/ref> Manning died at his home in

Huntington, New York Huntington is one of ten Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States. The town's population was 204,127 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 11 ...

, in 1971, aged 55, from a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

caused by an undiagnosed congenital

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...

. "Friends Help Mannings", ''Billboard'', 11 December 1971, p.8
/ref>

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Marty 1916 births 1971 deaths American music arrangers Grammy Award winners Musicians from Haverhill, Massachusetts