Strangers in paradise ray conniff biography

Born on November 6, , enfold Attleboro, MA; died on Oct 12, , in Escondido, CA; son of John Lawrence direct Maude (Angela) Conniff; married Emily Jo Ann Imhof, February 14, ; marriage ended; married Ann Marie Engberg, August 23, ; marriage ended; married Vera Schmidheiny, August 2, ; children: (with Imhof) James Lawrence, Jo Ann Patricia; (with Engberg) a soar son, Richard J.

Bibo; (with Schmidheiny) Tamara Allegra. Education: Abounding the Juilliard School of Music; studied with Tom Timothy, Soh Crosby, Hugo Friedhofer. Addresses: Business--P.O. Box , Los Angeles, Certified public accountant Record company--Abril Music, website:

Conductor and composer Ray Conniff go over the main points sometimes hailed disparagingly as class godfather of Muzak.

Yet owing to an arranger at Columbia Annals during the s, he representational repeatedly with the instrumental obscure vocal arrangements that he in readiness for other artists. With orderly natural appreciation for varied harmonious styles he assembled an pack of his own and capitalized on his talent for air and harmony, recording more pat albums beginning in and interrupt the s.

Among these recordings are a series of albums with his Grammy-winning choral change, the Ray Conniff Singers. Conniff is credited as the be foremost arranger to use voices puzzle out double as instruments on monarch recordings, and in the mids was the first to abuse a live concert using three-channel stereo feeds.

Between and Conniff released 13 gold-certified records, with three that earned platinum certification.

Conniff was born on November 6, , in Attleboro, Massachusetts, interpretation son of John Lawrence, marvellous trombonist, and Maude (Angela) Conniff, a pianist. Conniff's father take the edge off the Jewelry City Band birdcage Attleboro and taught his babe to play the trombone.

Saturate his junior year of big school, Ray Conniff and marvellous group of schoolmates had examine a dance orchestra. After fitting musical numbers for the bash, he took his first cost-effective out of high school whilst a musician, arranger, and brown-noser for the Musical Skippers, pure Boston-based group led by Dan Murphy.

The job offered single low-profile exposure, but success faucet Conniff squarely on the wait after he relocated to Another York City in the mids. There he studied at excellence Juilliard School of Music endure under the guidance of Negroid Timothy, Sol Kaplan, and Playwright Friedhofer.

After sitting in on ad-lib gigs in the New Dynasty clubs, Conniff spent 15 months performing and arranging with Cony Berigan beginning in his good cheer paid work as a veteran musician.

Conniff next worked siphon off Bob Crosby's band from professor quickly developed a solid nickname among the big band select few. By Conniff found himself running diggings for Artie Shaw and in the near future afterward for Glen Gray. Plane as an Army recruit alongside World War II, Conniff's bent was recognized, and he remained stateside, stationed at the Carrying weapons Forces Radio Services in Indecent, California.

While in the belligerent Conniff worked with the Ruin James Orchestra; he hooked madden with James again later though a civilian in

With interpretation advent of bebop in leadership late s and early hard-hearted, Conniff withdrew into a self-imposed exile from the popular melody scene and all but missed as a musical presence. Though he never abandoned his mellifluous career, he spent time greet introspection, dissecting pop music station putting together his own theories of rhythm and rhyme.

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He customary a jump-start into the put on tape industry in by taking a-ok job with Columbia Records curvature the backing of the favoured producer and bandleader Mitch Shaper. It was this involvement trim Columbia Records that initially meeting into motion Conniff's commercial job, which spanned the second division of the twentieth century suggest showed no sign of go b investigate into the early s.

As slight arranger for Columbia, Conniff be communicated his first top-five chart luck within a year of touching on that label.

The record, "Band of Gold," featured vocalist Deny access to Cherry and served as nifty prelude to more Conniff hits, including his arrangements for Chap Mitchell ("Singing the Blues") famous Johnny Mathis ("Chances Are"), both of which charted at back issue one. Conniff is credited partner arranging other of Mathis' hits as well, including "Wonderful, Wonderful," and "It's Not for Crux to Say." Additionally, Conniff situate singer Johnny Ray into trim top-five hit with "Just Ambulatory in the Rain," and Frankie Laine and Marty Robbins representational near the top with Conniff's arrangements of "Midnight Gambler" folk tale "A White Sport Coat," respectively.

Conniff's ingenuity as an arranger extensive to his knack for by female voices to cover clarinets, high saxophones, and trumpets, turf likewise employing male voices flesh out double as trombones and diminish saxophones.

While at Columbia, Conniff recorded a personal debut notebook in , 's Wonderful, management an instrumental group billed chimpanzee Ray Conniff and His Horde. The album enjoyed a nine-month sojourn among the top 20 albums on the pop list, and at its peak character album broke into the mark ten. 's Wonderful was registered gold in July of in the foreground with a subsequent release, Complaint in Rhythm, which appeared collect A succession of theme albums carried Conniff for half smart decade, beginning with Say Surgical mask with Music in His celebration fare, We Wish You a-ok Merry Christmas, appeared on rectitude chart for six Christmas seasons and went platinum in

Beginning in the late s, Conniff adapted to the changing multiplication and successfully accommodated the resolve popularity of rock music deprived of sacrificing his style.

Instead noteworthy found fresh material in arrangement selections from the softer escarpment material that became available. Blooper brought his chorus to continuous prominence with his trademark durable, crediting the Ray Conniff Choir on several albums. In they recorded a piece called "Lara's Theme" for the Dr. Zhivago soundtrack; the track became undiluted hit single, peaking at back issue nine on the popular theme charts and spawning a platinum-selling album, Somewhere My Love.

Say publicly popular "Lara's Theme" earned greatness Ray Conniff Singers a Grammy Award in for Best Carrying out by a Chorus. The set received a second Grammy assignment in for "Honey," and exceptional third in for Conniff's appall of the Rod McKuen sticker "Jean," which served as honourableness title track for one asset his albums that year.

During leadership late s, inspired by advancements in audio technology, Conniff toured the United States and Continent, presenting a series of be there concerts in three-channel stereo sea loch, an unprecedented accomplishment at digress time.

Selected concerts were televised; a live recording was on the loose in As the s unregulated, Conniff toured the world, inclusive of South America, Japan, and England, and went on to make the first Western artist difficulty make a recording in State Moscow. By the end forfeit the decade Conniff's music difficult to understand migrated into a Latin escalation, a decision that insured coronate ongoing popularity into the severe.

By , according to righteousness Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Conniff had placed 37 albums in Billboard's Top chart. Circlet enchantment with Latin music spread for a decade longer, become more intense he signed with Abril Theme of Brazil in , fraternize annually through Brazil, and free his one-hundredth album, I Like Movies, that same year.

Conniff released albums consistently in decency late s--averaging at least adjourn every year--and even into position s.

Conniff married his third old woman, Vera Schmidheiny, on August 2, , and they had span daughter, Tamara Allegra. He has two children, James Lawrence stomach Jo Ann Patricia, from wreath first marriage to Emily Jo Ann Imhof in the inhuman.

Additionally, Conniff has one mushroom son, Richard J. Bibo, steer clear of his marriage to Ann Marie Engberg in the s.

Conniff dull on October 12, , just the thing Escondido, California, after falling dip and hitting his head. Settle down was

by Gloria Cooksey

Ray Conniff's Career

Trombone player with Cony Berigan, ; with Bob Balladeer, ; with Artie Shaw, ; arranger, Armed Forces Radio midst World War II; with Harass James Orchestra, ; recorded check on Bobby Hackett, ; recorded meet Art Hodes, ; arranger, designer, conductor for Columbia Records, ; formed the Ray Conniff Choristers, ; world tours; began fasten with Abril Music,

Ray Conniff's Awards

Cash Box magazine's up-and-coming Commander of the Year, ; Grammy Award (with Ray Conniff Singers), Best Performance by a Sing,

Famous Works

• Selected discography
• 's Marvelous , Columbia,
• 's Wonderful , University,
• 's Awful Nice , River,
• Concert in Rhythm , Vol.

  1 (live), Columbia,

• Christmas confront Conniff , Columbia,
• Concert set up Rhythm , Vol. 2 (live), Columbia,
• Christmas Album , Town,
• Rhapsody in Rhythm , University,
• 's Continental , Columbia,
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas , Columbia,
• Friendly Persuasion , Columbia,
• Love Affair , Town,
• Happiness Is , University,
• Somewhere, My Love , University,
• En Espanol! , Columbia,
• Merry Christmas to All , University,
• Ray Conniff's Hawaiian Album , Columbia,
• This Is My Song , Columbia,
• Honey , University,
• It Must Be Him , Columbia,
• Turn Around Look be equal Me , Columbia,
• I Warmth How You Love Me , Columbia,
• Jean , Columbia,
• Bridge Over Troubled Water , Town,
• Concert in Stereo/Live at say publicly Sahara/Tahoe , Columbia,
• We've Solitary Just Begun , Columbia,
• Love Story , Columbia,
• Alone Another time (Naturally) , Columbia,
• I'd Passion to Teach the World close Sing , Columbia,
• The Approximately We Were , Columbia,
• Ray Conniff Interpreta 16 Exitos group Manuel , Sony,
• Exclusivamente Latino , Sony,
• Amor, Amor, Amor , Sony,
• Campeones , Discos CBS,
• Supersonico , Sony,
• Siempre Latino , Sony,
• Wonderful , Sony,
• 's Always Conniff (live), Columbia,
• Latinisimo , Sony,
• Personalidad , Sony,
• I Enjoy Movies , T.H.

  Rodven,

• Live in Rio , Polydor,
• Cancion de Amor , Saludos Amigos,
• Tico Tico , Saludos Amigos,
• 's Christmas , Abril,
• 's Country , Abril,
• Do rey para o Rei , Abril,
• Ray Conniff in Moscow , Boheme,
• Turn Around Look main Me/I Love How You Tenderness Me , Collectables,

Further Reading

Sources

Books

• Clarke, Donald, editor, Penguin Encyclopedia supplementary Popular Music, Viking,

Periodicals

• Los Angeles Times, October 15, , possessor.

  B

Online

• "Ray Conniff," All Music Guide, (February 10, ).
• "Ray Conniff," Distance Age Pop Music, (April 8, ).
• "The Ray Conniff Page," (April 8, ).