Ralph Marterie

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Ralph Marterie (born December 24, 1914 in Acerra , Italy , † October 10, 1978 in Dayton , Ohio , United States ) was an Italian-American trumpeter and orchestra conductor who had several hits in the 1950s.

Career

When Ralph Mater was still a child, his family immigrated to the United States. His father played in the orchestra of the Civic Opera of Chicago and he learned as a young trumpet. As a teenager he played in Oriole Orchestra of Danny Russo and then in other local bands and orchestras. As a member of the NBC orchestra , he came into contact with radio and television and played under orchestral conductors such as Percy Faith and Andre Kostelanetz .

During the Second World War he became a band leader in the US Navy and after the war he became an orchestra leader on ABC Radio . In 1949 he signed a recording deal with Mercury . At first he was unsuccessful with his own recordings, but he accompanied the studio recordings of label singers like Vic Damone and the crew cuts with his orchestra .

In 1952 he had his first own hit with his recording of Duke Ellington's Caravan , with which he was in the US charts for 10 weeks. Another hit was the recording of Pretend , a number 3 hit for Nat King Cole that same year . And with Skokiaan from southern Africa, he had his third top 10 hit. He was not a typical jazz or easy-listening orchestra leader, but also made use of current pop and rock. Crazy, Man, Crazy by Bill Haley , itself a former Rock - & - Roll-hit, he brought in his orchestral version in 1953 at No. 13, he took the folk song So Long (It's Been Good to Know Ya) of Woody Guthrie and had a hit with Tricky in 1957 with rhythm and blues elements. In the same year he had his last chart hit with Shish-Kebab , an Arabic melody with a modern guitar, with which he reached number 10 again.

Even after his great success period ended, Marterie continued to perform with musicians and toured. When he died in 1978 at the age of 63, he had just been touring Ohio.

Discography

Singles with chart positions in various US charts from the pre- Hot 100 period:

  • It Ain't Necessarily So (1950)
  • So Long (It's Been Good to Know Ya) (1951, 26th)
  • Takes Two to Tango (1952, with Lola Ameche)
  • Pretend (1953, 6th place)
  • Caravan (1953, 6th place)
  • Crazy, Man, Crazy (1953, 13th place)
  • The Creep (1954, 25th place)
  • Skokiaan (1954, 3rd place)
  • Maybellene (1955)
  • Theme from Picnic (1955, 64th place, from the movie Picnic )
  • Guaglione (1956)
  • Tricky (1957, 25th place)
  • Shish-Kebab (Harem Dance) (1957, 10th place)
  • Bacardi (1961)

swell

  1. ↑ Ralph Marterie Top Songs on MusicVF.com, accessed July 13, 2018

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Marty, Ralph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-American trumpeter and orchestra leader
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Acerra , Italy
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1978
Place of death Dayton , Ohio , United States