Harry Randell Van Horne Jr. (February 10, 1924 – September 26, 2007) was an American singer and musician. Van Horne's musical group, the Randy Van Horne Singers, performed the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

s for many classic

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

cartoons including ''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...

'', ''

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season ...

'', ''

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produc ...

'' and ''

The Huckleberry Hound Show ''The Huckleberry Hound Show'' is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and the second series produced by the studio following '' The Ruff and Reddy Show''. The show first aired in syndication on Septembe ...

''.

Early life

Harry Randell Van Horne Jr. was born on February 10, 1924, in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. Van Horne dropped out of high school 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 enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. He returned to school after the war and attended the Peabody Conservatory of Music in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, and the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...

to study music. Van Horne married his first wife, Tanya Ingwersen, in the mid-1950s. They had one son, Mark. The marriage ended in divorce. He married and divorced three more times during his life.

Career

Randy Van Horne's career began in the late 1940s as a Los Angeles

studio 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 record ...

. He formed his first musical group, the Encores, in the early 1950s with three other musicians. The Encores broke up in the late 1950s. He went on to create the Randy Van Horne Singers in the late 1950s following the breakup of the Encores. Several members of the Randy Van Horne Singers would eventually become successful solo recording artists, such as

Marni Nixon Margaret Nixon McEathron (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016), known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She was the singing voice of leading actresses on the s ...

. The group was known for its easy style of music and remained predominantly a studio musical group. However, the Randy Van Horne Singers did make occasional television performances, such as on ''The Nat King Cole Show'' in 1957. The group recorded the theme songs for several high-profile

cartoons, including ''

'' and ''

''. They were hired by Hanna-Barbera's music composer,

Hoyt Curtin Hoyt Stoddard Curtin (September 9, 1922 – December 3, 2000) was an American composer, music producer and the primary musical director for Hanna-Barbera from its beginnings with '' The Ruff & Reddy Show'' from 1957 to 1965, and again from 1972 to ...

, to complete the theme songs. However, the group also continued to record for

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

and radio station spots and

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s. Many of the jingles were written by Randy Van Horne. The Randy Van Horne Singers also recorded several albums including ''Other Worlds Other Sounds'' in 1958 with

Juan García Esquivel Juan García Esquivel (January 20, 1918 – January 3, 2002), often known mononymously as Esquivel!, was a Mexican band leader, pianist, and composer for television and films. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophist ...

, a Latin musician famous for his "

space age pop Space age pop or bachelor pad music is a subgenre of easy listening or lounge music associated with American and Mexican composers, songwriters, and bandleaders in the Space Age of the 1950s and 1960s.''Pulse'' (Monthly music digest of Tower Rec ...

" style of music, and the winter-themed LP ''Sleighride'' (1960, Everest). The Randy Van Horne Singers officially disbanded in the early 1970s but Van Horne reincarnated the group after 2000, which is led by Alan Wilson as of 2018. Van Horne continued to perform in clubs in the Los Angeles area. He also worked as the bandleader of a group called the Alumni Association, which was made up of musicians from the

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 ...

era. Van Horne created a symphonic suite called ''The Running of the Bulls'', which premiered at

La Mirada La Mirada is a city in southeast Los Angeles County, California United States, and is one of the Gateway Cities, on the border with Orange County. The population was 48,008 at the 2020 census. The La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and ...

Civic Theatre in 1981.

Death

Randy Van Horne died of cancer at the

Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital The Motion Picture & Television Fund (MPTF) is a charitable organization that offers assistance and care to those in the motion picture and television industries and their families with limited or no resources, including services such as tempo ...

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California, United States. History The area was inhabited for around 8,000 years by Native Americans in the United States, ...

, California, on September 26, 2007, at the age of 83.

References

External links

Boston Globe: Randy Van Horne; sang TV themes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Horne, Randy 1924 births 2007 deaths Musicians from El Paso, Texas American people of Dutch descent Hanna-Barbera people Theme music Peabody Institute alumni University of Texas at El Paso alumni Deaths from cancer in California United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of World War II