Johnny Catron

Johnny Catron (born September 24, 1916 in Boston , Massachusetts, † October 31, 1998 in Los Angeles ) was an American arranger , songwriter and big band leader in the field of swing and popular music .

Life

Johnny Catron, who worked full-time as a car salesman for 36 years, also led a big band for forty years and wrote a few songs. After playing in local clubs for a few years, Catron founded his first formation shortly before the USA entered the war , but could not raise the money and worked for a Volkswagen agency in Pomona (California) to finance his band. He also wrote a song related to his two professions, "The Volkswagen Song Polka".

In 1941 Catron worked for Ben Pollack , for whom he arranged and wrote songs. Pollack supported him, which led to Catron getting a position as arranger at the Union Oil Company Radio Program ; Later he worked as arranger and composer for the broadcaster KFI ( Southern California radio station ) 1963-1966 in a program with Lawrence Welk and Freddy Martin . During this time he wrote songs like "Valerie", "A Little Affection" and "There's a Time and a Place for Everything". 1964 followed a song about the assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy , "The Big D". His band's signature tunes were “ Just a Memory ” (1939 in Boston) and “Love Day” (1946).

With his own big band, he performed mainly in southern California, but went on tours occasionally; he also had summer engagements in Catalina Island . After all, he made regular appearances in a ballroom in Glendora, California . Catron also recorded records for the Nortac Records label with his band .

Web links

• Portrait of Johnny Catron with interview passages at Bigband database

swell

• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978