The creator of one of the most famous orchestras in the world, Ray Conniff entered the world history of music as the "godfather" of instrumental music of the 20th century. Winner of the prestigious Grammy Music Award, he immortalized his name with compositions that have become classics of world music, having published more than a hundred music albums.
Biography and early years
Ray Conniff was born on November 6, 1916 in Attleborough, 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 how to play the trombone.
In high school, Ray Conniff, with the help of his classmates, formed a dance orchestra. He was involved in arranging musical numbers for the ensemble, and after school he decided to continue working in the musical field as a musician and arranger for the Boston musical group Musical Skippers led by Dan Murphy.
Work in the team did not bring Conniff fame, but everything changed after he moved to New York in the mid 30s. There he was educated at the Juilliard School of Music under the direction of Tom Timothy, Sol Kaplan and Hugo Friedhofer.
Arranger career
Having gained experience at improvised concerts in New York clubs, in 1937, Conniff got his first paid job as a musician, for 15 months being an arranger for performances by Benny Berigan. Conniff's next job was to collaborate with the Bob Crosby Orchestra in the 1939-40s, as a result of which he earned a reputation in the music community. In the 40s, Conniff worked with Artie Shaw and Glen Gray. Even during the call of the Second World War, Conniff's talent allowed him to stay away from military operations - he was assigned to Hollywood, to work at the military radio station Armed Forces Radio Services. At this time, he also managed to work with the Harry James Orchestra, with which he later resumed cooperation in 1946.
With the advent of the bebop style of music in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Conniff temporarily voluntarily pulled away from popular music. Although he never gave up his career, at that time he was completely immersed in the analysis of musical rhythms, analyzing the components of popular music and developing his theory of popular music. In 1954, with the help of renowned music producer Mitch Miller, he gets a job at Columbia Records. It was cooperation with this studio that laid the foundation for the stunning success of his career, which lasted for many decades.
In the first year of working with Columbia, Ray Conniff created his first hit, which entered the top five music hits of the time. Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" recording was the forerunner of many of the hits that followed, including collaborations with Gay Mitchell ("Singing the Blues") and Johnny Matis ("Chances Are"). Both compositions topped the music charts. Conniff collaborated with Matis to become the arranger for his hits “Wonderful, Wonderful” and “It's Not for Me to Say.” Ray Conniff also presented Johnny Ray with his first top five position with the song “Just Walking in the Rain” and Frankie Lane and Marty Robbins moved almost to the top with his arrangement of the songs “Midnight Gambler” and “A White Sport Coat” respectively.
Conniff's genius as an arranger was revealed in his ability to use female and male voices as a complement to musical instruments such as clarinet, saxophone and trumpet.
Ray Conniff Orchestra
In 1957, while working at Columbia, Conniff recorded his first solo album "Wonderful" with an instrumental group that was named after Ray Conniff Orchestra. The album made it to the top twenty music charts, staying there for 9 months. In July 1962, the album was awarded the title of "golden", as well as its follower "Concert in Rhythm", released in 1958. In 1960, Conniff recorded the thematic music album "Say It with Music", which marked the beginning of an era of successful thematic albums that lasted for five years. His festive album "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" for 6 years remained the best-selling seasonal album, receiving the status of "platinum" in 1989.
In the early 1960s, Ray Conniff drew attention to a new style that conquered the musical world - rock music. The musician was able to successfully apply fashion trends in his work, while not causing damage to his main style. Conniff found fresh material in that he was engaged in arranging soft rock, which also appeared in the same years. At the same time, indicating the singers of his orchestra in the credits of arranged albums, he achieved additional fame. In 1966, the orchestra recorded a song called "Lara's Theme" for the film "Doctor Zhivago." The track becomes a hit, reaching the 9th line in the charts and entering the music album "Somewhere My Love", which became "platinum".
In the late 60s, inspired by the development of audio technology, Ray Conniff toured the USA and Europe with a series of concerts, presenting new sound in the format of three-dimensional stereo sound, which was a huge breakthrough for that time. Some of these concerts were recorded on television. These video recordings were published in 1970.
Conniff spent the 1970s on tour around the world, including countries such as South America, Japan, England, and became the first foreign artist to record his own album in Soviet Moscow.
By the end of the decade, Conniff's music had 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 albums on the Billboard's top 100 chart. His passion for Latin American music passed into the new decade, when in 1997 he signed a contract with the Brazilian company Abril Music and toured Brazil. In the same year he released his hundredth album "I Love Movies". Conniff continued to release albums until the 2000s, on average releasing one album a year.
Ray Conniff died on October 12, 2002, after falling from a ladder, resulting in severe head injury and subsequent death. He was 85 years old.
Personal life and family
Ray Conniff was married three times. His first wife was Emily Jo Ann Imhof, with whom they married in 1938. Two children were born in this marriage: James Lawrence and Joe Ann Patrice.
The second wife of the musician was Ann Marie Engberg, whose marriage was registered in 1947. Her son from a previous marriage, Richard J. Bebo, became the adoptive for Conniff.
For the third time, Conniff got married in 1968. His wife Vera gave her husband another child, this time a girl named Tamara Allegra.
