The creator of one of the most famous orchestras in the world, Ray Conniff entered world music history as the "godfather" of 20th century instrumental music. Winner of the prestigious Grammy music award, he immortalized his name with compositions that have become classics of world music, having published over a hundred music albums.
Biography and early years
Ray Conniff was born on November 6, 1916 in Attleboro, Massachusetts. His father is John Lawrence, a trombonist, and his mother is Maud (Angela) Conniff, a pianist. John was the leader of the local Jewelry City Band and taught his son to play the trombone.
At school, in high school, Ray Conniff, with the help of his classmates, formed a dance orchestra. He was engaged in the arrangement of musical numbers of the ensemble, and after school decided to continue working in the music field as a musician and arranger in the Boston musical group Musical Skippers under the leadership of Dan Murphy.
Teamwork did not make Conniff famous, but that changed after he moved to New York in the mid-1930s. There he was educated at the Juilliard School of Music under Tom Timothy, Saul Kaplan and Hugo Friedhofer.
Arranger career
After gaining experience at impromptu concerts in New York clubs, in 1937 Conniff landed his first paid job as a musician, arranging Benny Berigan performances for 15 months. Conniff's next work was a collaboration with the Bob Crosby Orchestra in the 1939-40s, as a result of which he earned a reputation for himself in the musical environment. In the 40s, Conniff worked with Artie Shaw and Glen Gray. Even during the Second World War draft, Conniff's talent allowed him to stay away from hostilities - he was assigned to Hollywood, to work for the military radio station Armed Forces Radio Services. During this time, he also managed to work with the Harry James Orchestra, with whom he later resumed cooperation in 1946.
With the emergence of the bebop style of music in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Conniff voluntarily retired from popular music for a time. Although he never gave up his career, at that time he completely immersed himself in the analysis of musical rhythms, disassembling the constituents of popular music and developing his theory of popular music. In 1954, with the help of renowned music producer Mitch Miller, he got a job at Columbia Records. It was the collaboration with this studio that marked the beginning of the stunning success of his career, which lasted for many decades.
In his first year with Columbia, Ray Conniff created his first hit, which entered the top five musical hits of the time. The recording of "Band of Gold" with vocals by Don Cherry was the precursor to many of the hits that followed, including collaborations with Guy Mitchell (Singing the Blues) and Johnny Mathis (Chances Are). Both compositions topped the music charts. Conniff collaborated with Mathis further, becoming the arranger for his hits “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It's Not for Me to Say.” Ray Conniff also gave Johnny Ray his first position in the top five with the song “Just Walking in the Rain” and Frankie Lane and Marty Robbins have moved almost to the top with his arrangements of the songs "Midnight Gambler" and "A White Sport Coat" respectively.
Conniff's genius as an arranger was revealed in his ability to use male and female voices to complement musical instruments such as the clarinet, saxophone and trumpet.
Ray Conniff Orchestra
In 1957, while at Columbia, Conniff recorded his first solo album, Wonderful, with an instrumental group named after the Ray Conniff Orchestra. The album made its way to the top twenty music charts, staying there for 9 months. In July 1962, the album was awarded the title of "gold", as well as its successor "Concert in Rhythm", released in 1958. In 1960, Conniff recorded a themed music album, Say It with Music, which marked the beginning of an era of successful themed albums that lasted for five years. His holiday album, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, remained the best-selling seasonal album for 6 years, going platinum in 1989.
In the early 1960s, Ray Conniff drew attention to a new style that conquered the music world - rock music. The musician was able to successfully apply fashion trends in his work, while not damaging his main style. Conniff found fresh material in arranging soft rock, which also appeared in the same years. At the same time, by naming the singers of his orchestra in the credits of the arranged albums, he achieved additional fame. In 1966, the orchestra recorded a composition entitled "Lara's Theme" for the film "Doctor Zhivago". The track becomes a hit, reaching number 9 in the charts and entering the platinum album "Somewhere My Love".
In the late 60s, inspired by the development of audio technology, RAY Conniff toured the United States and Europe with a series of concerts, presenting new sound in 3D stereo format, which was a huge breakthrough for the time. Some of these concerts were recorded on television. These video recordings were published in 1970.
1970s Conniff toured all over the world, including countries such as South America, Japan, England, and also became the first foreign artist to record his own disc in Soviet Moscow.
By the end of the decade, Conniff's music had become a Latin American sound. This decision helped the orchestra to remain popular in the 80s. By 1989, according to the Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Conniff had 37 top 100 albums on the Billboard chart. His passion for Latin American music continued into the new decade when in 1997 he signed with the Brazilian company Abril Music and toured Brazil. In the same year, he released his 100th album, I Love Movies. Conniff continued to release albums through the 2000s, releasing an average of one album per year.
Ray Conniff died on October 12, 2002 after falling down a staircase, resulting in severe head injury and subsequent death. He was 85 years old.
Personal life and family
Ray Conniff has been married three times. His first wife was Emily Jo Ann Imhof, whom they married in 1938. In this marriage, two children were born: James Lawrence and Joe Ann Patrice.
The musician's second wife was Anne Marie Engberg, whose marriage was registered in 1947. Her son from a former marriage, Richard J. Beebo, became Conniff's foster child.
Conniff married for the third time in 1968. His wife Vera gave her husband another child, this time a girl, who was named Tamara Allegra.
Awards
From 1957 to 1959, Ray Conniff was named Group Leader of the Year by Cash Box magazine.
The popularity of "Lara's Theme" earned the Ray Conniff Orchestra the prestigious 1966 Grammy Award. The band received their second nomination in 1968 for their recording of "Honey", and the third in 1969 for Conniff's version of Rod McQueen's song "Jean".
