Title Page | Collection Summary | Biographical/Organizational Note | Scope and Content | Arrangement
Biographical Sketches
Billy Eckstine
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1914 July 8 | Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William and Charlotte Eckstein |
| 1925 | Made his first appearance as a singer at a church bazaar |
| 1928 | Attended Peabody High School in Pittsburgh |
| circa 1930 | Moved to Washington, D.C. |
| circa 1931 | Studied physical education at St. Paul's Normal and Industrial School in Lawrenceville, Virginia |
| 1932-1933 | Studied at Howard University until he won an amateur singing contest |
| circa 1933 | Changed the spelling of his last name from Eckstein to Eckstine |
| 1939-1943 | Sang as lead vocalist in Earl Hines's orchestra in Chicago while learning trombone |
| 1942 | Recorded the hit songs "Jelly, Jelly" and "Stormy Monday" with Hines's orchestra Married his first wife, June (divorced 1952) |
| 1944-1947 | Led his own be-bop band, the Billy Eckstine Orchestra, which featured prominent jazz musicians, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan |
| 1945 | Recorded the hit song "Prisoner of Love" with Duke Ellington on piano, which became a gold album |
| 1945-1950 | Recorded hit songs with MGM, including "Cottage for Sale" (1945), "Everything I Have is Yours" (1947), "I Apologize" (1948), "Caravan" (1949), and "My Foolish Heart" (1950) |
| 1946 | Starred in the musical film Rhythm in a Riff Won Esquire magazine's New Star Award |
| 1947 | Pursued a career as a solo vocalist and focused primarily on ballads |
| Late 1940s | Signed a five-year contract with MGM records |
| 1950 April 24 | Featured in a photograph in LIFE magazine in which he was surrounded by white women, which damaged his career due to societal racism |
| 1949 | Voted most popular singer and orchestra by Downbeat magazine's annual poll |
| 1950 | Voted top male vocalist by Metronome magazine's annual poll |
| 1950s-1980s | Performed at night clubs |
| 1951 July 8 | Performed at the seventh annual Cavalcade of Jazz festival, which Leon Hefflin Sr. produced at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles |
| 1953 | Married actress and model Carolle Drake |
| 1957 | Recorded the song "Passing Strangers" with Sarah Vaughan |
| 1960 | Sang the national anthem at the World Series |
| Mid-1960s | Recorded for Motown Records |
| 1984 | Recorded his penultimate song, "I Am a Singer" |
| 1985 | Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame |
| 1986 | Recorded his final album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter, which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Jazz Vocal Performance Appeared in the film Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling, produced by Richard Pryor |
| 1990 | Was a pallbearer at Sammy Davis Jr.'s funeral |
| 1992 April | Had a stroke while giving a concert in Salina, Kansas, ending his performing career |
| 1993 March 8 | Died of a heart attack in Pittsburgh |
| 1999 | Posthumously awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his 1948 recording of "I Apologize" |
| 2019 | Posthumousy awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award |
Nelson Riddle
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1921 June 1 | Born in Oradell, New Jersey |
| 1929 | Began studying piano at age eight |
| 1935 | Began studying trombone at age fourteen |
| 1938 | Studied orchestration with Bill Finegan, who was also the arranger for the Glenn Miller Orchestra |
| circa 1938 | Played trombone in Charlie Briggs's band The Briggadiers at Rumson High School |
| 1940 | Arranged and played trombone for Jerry Wald's orchestra |
| 1941 | Arranged and played trombone for Charlie Spivak's orchestra |
| 1943 | Served with the United States Merchant Marines in Brooklyn, New York Studied with Alan Shulman |
| 1944-1945 | Played trombone with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra in Chicago for eleven months |
| 1945 April-1946 June | Served in the United States Army |
| 1945 | Married Doreen Moran (divorced 1970) |
| 1946 | Began arranging for Bob Crosby in Los Angeles |
| 1947 | Began arranging for NBC Radio Studied arranging with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Victor Young |
| 1949 May | Recorded the song "Again" with Doris Day, which reached no. 2 on the Billboard charts |
| 1950 | Completed his first project with Capitol Records, an arrangement of "Mona Lisa" for Nat King Cole, with whom he collaborated for more than a decade |
| circa 1950 | Signed with Capitol Records and formed his own orchestra |
| 1950s | Worked with popular singers at Capitol Records including Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, and Dean Martin |
| 1952 | Featured with his orchestra on Billy Eckstine's album Kiss of Fire |
| 1953 | Collaborated with Frank Sinatra on the song "I've Got the World on a String" |
| 1955 November | Released the song "Lisbon Antigua," which reached the top of the Billboard charts for three weeks |
| 1955 | Arranged the film score for Guys and Dolls |
| 1956 | Arranged the film score for High Society |
| 1959 | Won Grammy Award for Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1958 for Cross Country Suite |
| 1959 | Composed the film score for A Hole in the Head Collaborated with Ella Fitzgerald on Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook Composed the theme for The Untouchables television series |
| 1961 | Had an affair with Rosemary Clooney Directed the music for President John F. Kennedy's inauguration |
| 1962 | Left Capitol Records and began working as a freelance arranger |
| 1965 | Collaborated with Brazilian composer Antônio Jobim, who incorporated the Bossa Nova and Latin jazz styles into his works, on the album The Wonderful World of Antônio Carlos Jobim |
| 1966 | Released his final album with Sinatra titled Strangers in the Night |
| 1966-1968 | Composed music for the television series Batman |
| 1969 | Directed the music for the film Paint Your Wagon |
| 1970 April 11 | Married Naomi Tenenholtz |
| 1972-1973 | Worked as the music director for the Emmy Award winning show The Julie Andrews Hour |
| 1973 | Published the textbook Arranged by Nelson Riddle. Miami, Florida: Warner Brothers Publishers |
| 1975 | Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for The Great Gatsby |
| 1977 March 14 | Conducted his last three songs with Sinatra: "Linda," "Sweet Lorraine," and "Barbara" |
| 1982 | Approached by Linda Ronstadt to write arrangements for an album of popular music |
| 1984 | Awarded Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals for What's New, a collaborative album with Linda Ronstadt |
| 1985 January 19 | Conducted the nationally televised 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala for President Ronald Reagan |
| 1985 | Completed his final collaborative project, Blue Skies, with Kori Te Kanawa |
| 1985 October 6 | Died in Los Angeles of heart and liver problems |
| 1986 | Posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals for Lush Life, a collaborative album with Linda Ronstadt that was released in 1984 |
Hugo Winterhalter
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1909 August 15 | Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Hugo "Hugh" Winterhalter (1880-1944) and Margaret "Mary" Gallagher (1881-1950) |
| 1931 | Graduated from Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where he studied saxophone and sang in two choirs |
| circa 1932 | Married Mary Margaret Hardey (1911-1977) |
| 1930s-1940s | Performed as a sideman and arranger for Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, and others |
| 1948 | Musical director at MGM Records |
| 1949 | Moved to Columbia Records Arranged, conducted, and recorded "Jealous Heart" and "Blue Christmas" |
| 1950 | Began arranging for RCA Victor |
| 1952 | Winterhalter's arrangement of "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" recorded by Perry Como and The Ramblers sold more than a million copies, earning Winterhalter just one of his many "gold" records Recorded Great Music Themes of Television, thought to be the first recorded collection of television theme music |
| 1956 | His arrangement of "Canadian Sunset" reached no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold more than one million copies |
| 1959 | Received Grammy nomination for Best Performance by an Orchestra for the album Two Sides of Winterhalter |
| 1963 | Moved to independent label Kapp Records |
| circa 1965 | Left Kapp Records to work on Broadway and in the television industry |
| 1969 | Last chart single "Theme from Popi" released by Musicor Records |
| 1973 September 17 | Died in Greenwich, Connecticut |