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Ray Conniff music biography continued...

Conniff was exposed to music at an early age; his father was the leader/trombonist of the local Jewelry City Band and his mother played the piano. After a stint in the Army during WW II, Conniff moved to New York City to pursue his musical interests. His big break came in the early 1950s, when he was hired as an arranger for Columbia Records. He would go on to arrange many hits, including Don Cherry's "Band Of Gold," Guy Mitchell's "Singing The Blues" and Johnny Mathis' "Chances Are," "Wonderful, Wonderful," and "It's Not For Me To Say." Ray's success arranging and conducting for other recording artists prompted Columbia to let him record an album under his own name. His debut album, S Wonderful, was in the Top 20 for nine months. During the rest of the late '50s, four Ray Conniff albums reached the Top Ten, led by the gold-certified 'S Marvelous and Concert in Rhythm. Conniff did well in the early '60s as well, with popular theme albums like Say It with Music (A Touch of Latin), Memories Are Made of This, So Much in Love, 'S Continental, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which continued to chart during the holiday season of the next six years after its 1962 release date. In 1966 the inclusion of Conniff's "Lara's Theme" in the film Doctor Zhivago resulted in Conniff's only significant singles-chart placing at number nine, and a million-selling album with Somewhere My Love.



With America's growing interest in rock and roll, Conniff's sales suffered in the late sixties and seventies. However, he continued to record and perform well into the 90s. An ailing Conniff suffered a stroke in early 2002 and on October 12, 2002, Conniff passed away after falling down and hitting his head. He was 85, but had left for us a rich musical legacy which continues to thrill easy listening fans to this day.