Bandleader-composer often topped the charts
By Kate Berry
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- Ray Conniff, the Grammy Award-winning composer and bandleader whose arrangements epitomized the Big Band sound while spawning such albums as "S'Wonderful" and "Somewhere My Love," has died. He was 85.
Conniff died Saturday at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido after falling down and hitting his head, San Diego medical examiner's investigator Angela Wagner said. He had suffered a stroke in April.
Conniff had more than 100 recordings and produced 25 Top 40 albums for Columbia Records. He rendered such classics as "Besame Mucho" and "New York, New York," in a career that spanned six decades.
His most memorable song might have been "Somewhere My Love." The song was adapted from French composer Maurice Jarre's "Lara's Theme" from the film "Dr. Zhivago." It rose to the top of the pop and easy-listening charts and won Conniff a Grammy in 1966.
Conniff produced 10 gold and two platinum records. He won CBS Records' Best Selling Artist for 1962 for the recording "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."
The Ray Conniff Orchestra and Singers typified the lounge-singing style of the 1950s and '60s with a mix of wordless vocal choruses and light orchestral accom- paniment.
Though he got his start as a trombone player in the Big Band era playing with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby and Artie Shaw, Conniff broke out as a solo artist after being hired as a house arranger with Columbia Records in 1951.
He was responsible for Johnny Mathis' "Chances Are," Frankie Laine's "Moonlight Gambler," Johnnie Ray's "Just Walking in the Rain," and Guy Mitchell's "Singing the Blues." He also did arrangements for Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Marty Robbins.
It was Conniff's arrangement of "Band of Gold" for Don Cherry that hit the first high note of both men's careers. The song made No. 5 on the Top 40 and was widely thought to be Cherry's hottest recording.
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