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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 ZMANCINI, Henry(b 16 April '24, Cleveland OH; d 14 June '94) Composer, conductor. Studied at Juilliard, went to West Coast as studio musician and became famous scoring hit TV series Peter Gunn, incl. hit for Ray Anthony with title theme '59, followed by Mancini's own hit with the theme from Mr Lucky '60, for which he got a Grammy. These were hailed as the first modern jazz TV scores, but they were actually pretty Hollywood; Benny Carter's M-Squad stuff '59 deserves the title. Mancini however went on to win 19 more Grammys, and Oscars '61 for both best score (Breakfast At Tiffany's) and best song: 'Moon River', with words by Johnny Mercer, also a hit single accounting for three Grammys. About 30 other film scores incl. Orson Welles's late noir masterpiece Touch Of Evil '58; scores with hit singles incl. The Great Imposter '61, Hatari! '62 ('Baby Elephant Walk' provided hits for others as well), Days Of Wine And Roses and Charade '63, A Shot In The Dark '64 and best of all The Pink Panther '64, the sax played on the top 40 hit single by Plas Johnson, and still going strong in cartoons; but his biggest hit as a conductor was not his own composition: the love theme from Nino Rota's score for Zeffirelli's Romeo And Juliet was no. 1 for two weeks '69. He conducted top symphony orchestras around the world; more ambitious work incl. concert suite Beaver Valley '37. A phenomenal 38 Mancini LPs charted '59--77 incl. 18 in top 40; biggest hits were TV or film albums incl. Breakfast (no. 1 for twelve weeks '61); also Brass On Ivory (duets with trumpeter Doc Severinson) on RCA. The Long Hot Summer '58 was on MCA (Alex North's film score cond. by Mancini). Autobiography (with Gene Lees) Did They Mention The Music? '89. |