RAY CONNIFF

RAY CONNIFF

Ray Conniff was born on November 6, 1916, in Attelboro, Massachusetts, USA. He was taught to play the trombone by his father. Ray studied arranging with the aid of a mail order correspondence course while still at college. In 1934, after graduation, he worked with small bands in Boston before joining Bunny Berigan as a trombonist/arranger in 1936. After a spell with Bob Crosby 's Bobcats, Conniff spent four years with Artie Shaw and was featured on several successful records including 'Concerto For Clarinet', 'Dancing In The Dark' and 'St. James Infirmary'. During this period, Ray was also studying at the New York Julliard School of Music in New York.

After serving in the Army during World War II, Conniff spent some time as an arranger with Harry James, then freelanced while searching for a successful formula for producing hit records. He joined Columbia Records in 1954 and worked with several of their artists, including Johnny Ray, Rosemary Clooney, Guy Mitchell and Marty Robbins. In 1954, he provided the arrangement for Don Cherry 's million copy seller, 'Band Of Gold' and in 1956 was given the chance, by Columbia producer Mitch Miller, to make an album featuring his 'new sound'. The successful result, 'S WONDERFUL, was a set of familiar songs with an orchestra and a cleverly blended mix of chorus and wordless voices, sometimes used as extra instruments within the songs' arrangements. 'S WONDERFUL was followed, naturally, by 'S MARVELLOUS and 'S AWFUL NICE, all in the same vein.

‘It's The Talk Of The Town’, released in 1960, featured a larger chorus and for the first time they sang words. From 1957 through 1968 Conniff had 28 albums in the US Top 40, including ‘Say It With Music (A Touch Of Latin)’, ‘Memories Are Made Of This’, and in 1966, the million copy seller, ‘Somewhere My Love’.

The album's title track, 'Lara's Theme' from the film “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), also made the US Top 10 singles chart. In 1969, Ray topped the UK album charts with ‘His Orchestra, His Chorus, His Singers, His Sound’, and in 1974, Ray became the first American pop musician to record in Russia, where he made ‘Ray Conniff in Moscow’, using a local chorus.

More recent albums have included three Spanish sets, ‘Amor, Amor’, ‘Exclusivamente Latino’, ‘Fantastico’, and ‘The Nashville Collection’, with country guest stars that included Barbara Mandrell, George Jones and Charly McClain, who are featured on songs as diverse as 'Oh, Lonesome Me' and 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes'.