Nelson Riddle

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Nelson Riddle, 1958

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. (born June 1, 1921 in Oradell , New Jersey , † October 6, 1985 in Los Angeles ) was an American arranger , composer and leader of a big band .

biography

Life

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. was born in Oradell , New Jersey , the only child of Marie Albertine Riddle and Nelson Smock Riddle, Sr. He started playing the piano at the age of eight and the trombone at 14 . In Rumson, New Jersey, where his parents owned a summer home, Riddle graduated from Rumson High School in 1939, where he also played in the school orchestra. He then played in various regional bands before he joined the United States Merchant Marine in 1943 during the Second World War and served his two years in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. He then moved to Chicago , where he played as a trombonist for Tommy Dorsey's orchestra . In April 1945 he was drafted again, this time from the United States Army , and served 15 months. After his release he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career as an arranger.

Riddle was married to Doreen Moran from 1945 to January 1970 and had seven children with her. He married Naomi Tenenholtz three months later and was married to her until his death in 1985, with neither having children together.

On October 6, 1985, Riddle died of heart and kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center . He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver five years earlier . He is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery .

Career

Nelson Riddle, who began his musical career as a trombonist , was one of the outstanding American big band arrangers of the 1950s and 1960s.

As a trombonist he played in numerous big bands, a. a. at Tommy Dorsey . For many years he was the first arranger for Frank Sinatra (e.g. Songs for Swingin 'Lovers , 1956). Before he worked with Sinatra, however, he arranged some hits for Nat King Cole , among others. a. the biggest hit Cole's Mona Lisa and also Route 66 . In the 1950s, he was hired exclusively by the Capitol Records label to arrange for all of the company's singing stars. He worked for Rosemary Clooney , Peggy Lee , Ella Mae Morse and Judy Garland .

With his orchestra, Riddle also released numerous of his own records. His biggest sales success was in 1956 his single Lisbon Antigua . The track was composed in 1937 under the title Lisboa Antigua by Raul Portela, Jose Galhardo, Amadeu da Vale and Harry Dupree. The single was produced by Lee Gillette. The single reached number 1 on the Billboard sales charts and held the top position for four weeks. The successor hit Port Au Prince also reached the top 20 of the US single charts.

Between 1957 and 1962, Riddle was also able to record Hey… Let Yourself Go! , C'mon ... Get Happy! and Route 66 Theme and Other Great TV Themes entered the US LP charts.

For Ella Fitzgerald he arranged the famous songbook series with songs by George Gershwin and Jerome Kern . Between 1960 and 1975 he was nominated five times for his film compositions for an Oscar and won it once for the music of The Great Gatsby with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow . In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s he performed as a conductor at many Sinatra television specials, while on the concert stage he rarely conducted for Sinatra.

Riddle et al. Composed for television. a. the title music for Merciless City ( Naked City , 1958), Chicago 1930 ( The Untouchables , 1959), Batman (1966), Solo for ONKEL ( The Man from UNCLE , 1964), Tarzan (1966), Hawk (1966), Emergency Call California ( Emergency!, 1972) or Harper Valley PTA (1981).

In the early 1980s he began a successful collaboration with popular country singer Linda Ronstadt . He arranged three albums and won two Grammys for them . The single What's New from the album of the same name had "Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra" as the artist. With this single, Riddle reached a place in the US Top 100 again 21 years after his previous chart placement.

His last job shortly before his death brought him a whole new field of activity. In 1985 he arranged an album for the New Zealand soprano Kiri Te Kanawa .

Discography (albums)

  • 1953: It Can't Be Wrong
  • 1953: Love Songs By Rodgers & Hammerstein
  • 1954: Swing Easy
  • 1954: Unforgettable
  • 1954: Songs For Young Lovers
  • 1954: Sings For Two In Love
  • 1955: In The Wee Small Hours
  • 1955: Piano Style of Nat King Cole
  • 1956: Songs For Swingin 'Lovers
  • 1956: Ballads of the Day
  • 1956: Judy
  • 1956: Lisbon Antigua
  • 1956: The Tender Touch
  • 1956: This is Sinatra
  • 1956: Close To You
  • 1956: A Swingin 'Affair
  • 1956: Phil Silver's Swinging Brass
  • 1957: Hey ... Let Yourself Go!
  • 1957: The Man I Love
  • 1957: This is Nat King Cole
  • 1958: C'mon ... Get Happy!
  • 1958: I Wish You Love
  • 1958: Sea of ​​Dreams
  • 1958: Cross Country Suite
  • 1958: When Your Lover Has Gone
  • 1958: Jump For Joy
  • 1958: This is Sinatra (Volume 2)
  • 1958: St. Louis Blues
  • 1958: Only The Lonely
  • 1958: Witchcraft!
  • 1958: Judy In Love
  • 1959: New In Town
  • 1959: Swingin 'Pretty
  • 1959: The Joy of Living
  • 1959: To Whom It May Concern
  • 1959: Take A Number
  • 1959: Look to Your Heart
  • 1959: Glad To Be Here
  • 1959: When I'm Thinking of You
  • 1959: Dinah, Yes, Indeed
  • 1959: Sing a Song With Riddle
  • 1959: Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 1
  • 1959: Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 2
  • 1959: Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 3
  • 1959: Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 4
  • 1959: Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 5
  • 1960: Warm & Willing
  • 1960: Wild Is Love
  • 1960: Nice 'N' Easy
  • 1960: Dream With Me
  • 1960: This Time I'm Swingin '
  • 1960: Sinatra Swingin 'Session
  • 1961: Love Tide
  • 1961: All the Way
  • 1961: Rosie Solves The Swingin 'Riddle
  • 1962: Cha Cha De Amor
  • 1962: Sinatra Sings Of Love & Things
  • 1962: Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson
  • 1962: Ella Swings Gently With Nelson
  • 1962: Love Is a Game of Poker
  • 1962: I'll Buy You A Star
  • 1962: The Best of Nelson Riddle
  • 1962: Let's Face The Music
  • 1962: Swinging For You
  • 1962: Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New
  • 1962: Guard Session Album with Keely Smith
  • 1962: Love
  • 1962: More Hit TV Theme
  • 1963: Jerome Kern Songbook
  • 1963: Shirley Bassey Sings the Hit Song from Oliver!
  • 1963: Live It Up
  • 1963: The Concert Sinatra
  • 1963: Sinatra's Sinatra
  • 1963: Country Boy
  • 1964: Return To Paradise Islands
  • 1964: Nat Cole Sings The Great Songs
  • 1964: Days Of Wine & Roses
  • 1964: Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle
  • 1964: Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook
  • 1964: Hits of * 1964
  • 1964: All Time Favorites
  • 1965: There's Love
  • 1965: The Brazilian Mood
  • 1966: Games That Lovers Play
  • 1966: Strangers In The Night
  • 1966: Moonlight Sinatra
  • 1966: Nat: An Orchestral Portrait
  • 1966: Route 66 Theme
  • 1967: Music for Wives and Lovers
  • 1967: The Bright and the Beautiful
  • 1967: Here, There and Everywhere
  • 1968: The Riddle of Today
  • 1968: Wish You A Merry Christmas
  • 1968: The Contemporary Sound of Nelson Riddle
  • 1969: British Columbia Suite
  • 1970: The Look of Love
  • 1970: Nelson Riddle Conducts The 101 Strings
  • 1970: The Sound of Magnificence / With 101 Strings
  • 1971: Spice
  • 1972: His Way
  • 1972: Dream Dancing
  • 1972: Changing Colors
  • 1972: Communication
  • 1972: Portrait of Steve
  • 1973: Vive Legrand!
  • 1975: That's Entertainment
  • 1978: The Rare Sinatra
  • 1981: Top Hat
  • 1982: The Best Is Yet To Come
  • 1983: Romance Fire and Fancy
  • 1983: What's New
  • 1984: Lush Life
  • 1985: Blue Skies
  • 1986: 'Round Midnight
  • 1986: For Sentimental Reasons
  • 1987: The Unreleased

Filmography (selection)

Movies

TV Shows

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Peter J. Levinson, September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle , pp. 17-19.
  2. Nelson Riddle (1921–1985), Class of 1939 ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article on the Rumson-Fair Haven High School Hall of Fame website, accessed September 30, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rumsonfairhaven.org
  3. Penelope McMillan: Nelson Riddle, Composer and Arranger for Top Stars, Dies on latimes.com, October 7, 1985 (English), accessed May 21, 2012
  4. Composer Nelson Riddle Dead At 64 ", Lodi News-Sentinel (United Press International): October 18, 1985
  5. ^ Page, Tim (October 8, 1985 page = 24 (Section A)), "Nelson Riddle Is Dead At 64; Orchestrated Sinatra Songs, ”The New York Times
  6. US catalog number Capitol 3287
  7. ^ Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 8
  8. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 499; U.S. catalog number Capitol 3374
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1996, pp. 654f
  10. US Catalog Asylum 69780
  11. The title reached number 53 and was a new version of the hit I'm Free from 1939, which was particularly successful in the version by Bing Crosby. See Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 499