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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZMOONEY, Art(b c1911, Lowell MA; d 11 Sep. 1993, Florida, said to be aged 80) Bandleader, arranger. Began playing saxophone at age 16, led band in Detroit area '30s; formed new band after military service in WWII military service, opened in NYC '45 with Neal Hefti arrangements; he also had charts by Jimmy Mundy. He went corny for 'I'm Looking Over A Four-Leaf Clover' on MGM '47, featuring banjo by ex-Paul Whiteman sideman Mike Pingatore, and sold over a million copies, followed by several other big hits. Mooney provided the backing on 7-year-old Barry Gordon's novelty Christmas hit 'Nuttin' For Christmas' '55. He is said to have operated a restaurant in Framlingham MA in the 1950s but music remained his first love; he continued playing state fairs and cruise ships. He had arrangements specially written for the band by Billy May, and recorded them in the mid-'50s; at the end of that decade he was working in south Florida. He toured with the Big Band Cavalcade '73-4; in the early '80s he took over Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians and led it at the South Florida Fair in West Palm Beach in '84. |