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The Pied Pipers | |
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 The Pied Pipers in a 1945 advertisement | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | California, United States |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1938–present |
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The Pied Pipers are an American popular singing group originally formed in the late 1930s. They had several chart hits throughout the 1940s, both under their own name and in association with Tommy Dorsey, with Johnny Mercer and with Frank Sinatra.
Originally, the group consisted of eight members who had belonged to three separate groups: Jo Stafford from The Stafford Sisters, and seven male singers: John Huddleston, Hal Hopper, Chuck Lowry, Bud Hervey, George Tait, Woody Newbury, and Dick Whittinghill, who had belonged to two groups named The Four Esquires and The Three Rhythm Kings, all of whom were contributing to the 1938 movie Alexander's Ragtime Band . [1] [2] Multi-instrumentalist Spencer Clark was also a member at one point.
Paul Weston and Axel Stordahl, who were arrangers for Tommy Dorsey's big band, heard of the group through two of The King Sisters, Alyce and Yvonne. Weston had a jam session at his home and a visiting advertising executive signed the octet for Dorsey's radio program, broadcast in New York City. [1] [3] They sang with Dorsey's orchestra for about six weeks before a British representative of the sponsor objected to some of the songs in their repertoire and fired them. [4] They went back to California, but in the time they had been in New York had recorded two records for RCA Victor Records. [4]
While in Los Angeles, the group was reduced to a quartet: Jo Stafford, her then-husband John Huddleston, and Chuck Lowry from the original eight, and Billy Wilson. They were getting little work, however, and were on the threshold of disbanding when they received a call from Tommy Dorsey (in Chicago). Dorsey said he could not afford to hire eight Pipers but would be happy to have them join him if they could cut the number down to a quartet. As they had already done that, and with only one unemployment check remaining, they were happy to comply. [4]
In 1939, they moved to Chicago, with Clark Yocum, who had played guitar and sung for Dorsey, replacing Wilson. [4] Although Paul Weston left Dorsey to become Dinah Shore's music director about that time, he was to figure in the fortunes of the group again. [5]
In 1940, Dorsey hired another vocalist, Frank Sinatra, who had previously sung in a quartet, The Hoboken Four, and later with Harry James' orchestra. Sinatra and the Pipers teamed to record a major hit, "I'll Never Smile Again", in that year. The group had twelve more chart hits with Dorsey, ten of them with Sinatra. [2] Also, Jo Stafford herself had a solo hit, "Yes Indeed", in 1941. [6] [7]
Around Thanksgiving 1942, Tommy Dorsey (who was prone to incidents of bad temper) became angry at one of the Pipers for sending him in the wrong direction at a railroad station in Portland, Oregon, and fired him. The Pipers, out of "team loyalty," resigned en masse. At that moment, the No. 1 record on the charts was "There Are Such Things" sung by Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers, the last RCA record they did with Dorsey. [4]
They returned to Los Angeles and signed with Capitol Records, where Paul Weston was now working, and he became the arranger and orchestra leader for most of the Pipers' recordings. [5] Huddleston left to join the war effort (he was divorced from Stafford around that time), and Hal Hopper rejoined the group to replace him. The group also backed Johnny Mercer on a number of sides. In 1944 Jo Stafford had a hit on her own, ahead of the Pipers, and after a couple more hits, she left for good to pursue a solo career. [8] She was replaced in May by June Hutton, [9] who had been singing with the Stardusters.
The Pipers had twelve charted hit singles on Capitol, including "Dream" and ending with "My Happiness" (biggest hit version by Jon and Sondra Steele, later made popular again by Connie Francis) in 1948. [10] They also continued a relationship with Frank Sinatra, doing several tours with him starting in 1945 and becoming a regular on his radio program from 1945 to 1947.
In 1944, The Pied Pipers were regulars on Johnny Mercer's Chesterfield Music Shop on the NBC Radio Network Monday through Friday nights. [11] Beginning March 30, 1948, the group became a part of Club Fifteen on CBS. They sang on the program's Tuesday and Thursday episodes, alternating with The Andrews Sisters, who sang on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. [12]
In 1950, June Hutton left the group and was replaced by Sue Allen and later by Virginia Marcy. [10] (However, the trade publication Billboard reported that Virginia Maxie replaced Hutton in December 1949.) [13] Hutton married Axel Stordahl, the other half of Dorsey's original arranging team. Just as Jo Stafford (who had married Paul Weston) had her husband's orchestra accompany her on her solo hits, June Hutton's solo hits on Capitol in the 1950s featured Stordahl's orchestra as backing group.
Louanne Hogan, who was the dubbed singing voice behind several movie stars, was briefly a member of The Pied Pipers in 1951. Lee Gotch, who had sung in the 1940s with the swing group Six Hits and a Miss, joined the Pied Pipers from 1954 to 1967, during which time he recorded an LP by Lee Gotch's Ivy Barflies. [14] [ deprecated source ] The Pied Pipers appeared on the December 12, 1955 episode 'Ricky's European Booking' on TV's "I Love Lucy".
The Pied Pipers sang on a few tracks of Frank Sinatra's 1950s studio albums, backed up Sam Cooke on his No. 1 hit, "You Send Me", and made a guest appearance on I Love Lucy .
The current Pied Pipers are Nancy Knorr, Don Lucas, Kevin Kennard, Chris Sanders, and David Zack. The group frequently performs with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra. [15]
In both 1944 and 1945, The Pied Pipers won awards from Down Beat magazine as the best and most popular group of the year. [9] The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.
The group was one of the early artists to return to recording at the end of the American Federation of Musicians' recording ban. Under the musical leadership of Johnny Mercer and Paul Weston the Pied Piper recorded singles and albums for Capitol Records in the mid and latter 1940s.
In the 1950s they recorded for Tops Records. In the 1960s they recorded for Warner Bros. Records and other companies.
Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombone playing. His theme song was "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You". His technical skill on the trombone gave him renown among other musicians. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey broke with his brother in the mid-1930s, he led an extremely successful band from the late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best remembered for standards such as "Opus One", "This Love of Mine" featuring Frank Sinatra on vocals, "Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure Island", and his biggest hit single, "I'll Never Smile Again".
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart, and the first by a female artist to do so.
Axel Stordahl was an American arranger and composer who was active from the late 1930s through the 1950s. He is perhaps best known for his work with Frank Sinatra in the 1940s at Columbia Records. With his sophisticated orchestrations, Stordahl is credited with helping to bring pop arranging into the modern age.
Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as "I Should Care", "Day by Day", and "Shrimp Boats". He also wrote classical pieces, including "Crescent City Suite" and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses.
Melvin James "Sy" Oliver was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.
June Hutton was an American vocalist, popular with big bands during the 1940s. She was the younger sister of Ina Ray Hutton.
"On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" is a popular song written by Harry Warren with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The song was published in 1944, spanned the hit chart in mid-1945, and won the 1946 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the first win for Mercer.
"Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer in 1944. He originally wrote it as a theme for his radio program. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra, and Roy Orbison.
The Columbia Years 1943–1952: The V-Discs is a 1994 compilation album by the American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released as a "long box" box set in 1994 and re-released in a jewel box size in 1998.
"Day by Day" is a popular song with music by Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston and lyrics by Sammy Cahn.
Frank Sinatra in Hollywood 1940–1964 is a 2002 compilation album by the American singer Frank Sinatra.
"There Are Such Things" is a popular song by Stanley Adams, Abel Baer, and George W. Meyer, published in 1942. The first and most popular version of the song was performed by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra with vocals by Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers, which reached No. 1 on the US best-selling records chart in 1942. This version hit No. 2 on the Harlem Hit Parade chart. There have been many other versions recorded since.
"Let's Get Away from It All" is a popular song with music by Matt Dennis and lyrics by Tom Adair, published in 1941.
Nick Fatool was an American jazz drummer.
Starring Jo Stafford is a 1953 album by Jo Stafford, with Paul Weston and His Orchestra and accompaniment by The Starlighters and The Pied Pipers. In 1997, EMI issued it on a CD along with 1950's Autumn in New York.
"Whispering" is a popular song published in 1920 by Sherman, Clay & Co. of San Francisco. The 1920 copyright attributes the lyrics to Malvin Schonberger and the music to John Schonberger.
The Sentimentalists, also known as the "Clark Sisters", were an American close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters Mary Clark Branson, Peggy Clark Schwartz, Ann Clark Terry, and Jean Clark Frile. Hailing from Grand Forks, North Dakota, they were a mere 17 to 23 years of age when they signed with the Tommy Dorsey Band in 1944 to replace the popular Pied Pipers, after the Pipers had quit Dorsey's band to go out on their own.
The One And Only Tommy Dorsey is an album released in 1961 featuring Tommy Dorsey and his band playing, accompanied by a number of singers such as Frank Sinatra, Jack Leonard, Jo Stafford, Edythe Wright, and the Pied Pipers.
Starmaker is a compilation album of phonograph records by Tommy Dorsey, featuring collaborations between Dorsey and artists his band had a role in making popular. These include musicians such as Buddy Rich, composers and arrangers such as Sy Oliver, and vocalists like Frank Sinatra and Jo Stafford. It was released as a part of the Victor Musical Smart Set series.
jonathan darlene edwards.
jo stafford.
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