Sammy Kaye
Encyclopedia
Sammy Kaye born Samuel Zarnocay, Jr., was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....

 and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, whose tag line, "Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the Big Band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 Era.

Biography

Kaye, born in Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders the city of Cleveland. The population was 52,131 at the 2010 making it the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland and Parma .Lakewood, one of Cleveland's...

, graduated from Rocky River High School in Rocky River, Ohio
Rocky River, Ohio
Rocky River is an affluent western suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, United States located in Cuyahoga County approximately nine miles west of Public Square in downtown Cleveland. The city is named for the river that forms its eastern border...

 in 1927. At Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...

 in Athens, Ohio
Athens, Ohio
Athens is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Athens County, Ohio, United States. It is located along the Hocking River in the southeastern part of Ohio. A historic college town, Athens is home to Ohio University and is the principal city of the Athens, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...

 he was a member of Theta Chi
Theta Chi
Theta Chi Fraternity is an international college fraternity. It was founded on April 10, 1856 as the Theta Chi Society, at Norwich University, Norwich, Vermont, U.S., and was the 21st of the 71 North-American Interfraternity Conference men's fraternities.-Founding and early years at Norwich:Theta...

 Fraternity. Kaye could play the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 and the clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, but he never featured himself as a soloist on either one.

A leader of one of the so-called "Sweet" bands of the Big Band Era, he made a large number of records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 for Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records
Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their...

, RCA Victor, Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, Bell Records
Bell Records
Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 by Arthur Shimkin in New York, the owner of children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny Bell who used the Bell name to issue risque novelty records. A...

, and the American Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

. He was also a hit on radio. Kaye was known for an audience participation gimmick called "So You Want To Lead A Band?" where audience members would be called onto stage in an attempt to conduct the orchestra, with the possibility of winning batons. Kaye was also known for his use of "singing of song titles", which was emulated by Kay Kyser
Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser was a popular bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.-Early years:He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Paul Bynum Kyser and Emily Royster Kyser. Editor Vermont C. Royster was his cousin...

 and Blue Barron
Blue Barron
Blue Barron , born Harry Freidman, was an American orchestra leader in the 1940s and early 1950s during the "Big Band" era....

.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, Sammy Kaye wrote the music and Don Reid wrote the words to "Remember Pearl Harbor". His NBC Radio show was interrupted by the announcement of the attack. On December 17, 1942, Decca Records recorded the song, with Sammy Kaye's Swing and Sway Band and The Glee Club.

His band members included Ralph Flanagan
Ralph Flanagan
Ralph Flanagan , was a famed big band leader, conductor, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, and Alvino Rey.-Biography:He was educated at Lorain High School, where he was a member of the National Honors...

, Dale Cornell, Sid Rhein and Marty Oscard. Singers included Don Cornell
Don Cornell
Don Cornell was an American singer prominent mainly in the 1940s and 1950s noted for his smooth but robust baritone voice....

 (not related to Dale Cornell), Billy Williams, Tommy Ryan, Gary Willner, Barry Frank
Barry Frank
Barry Frank was a hit smooth-voiced 1950s and early 1960s pop and rock and roll vocalist who was professionally recorded on 78s, 45s, 33s, and many extended play long play albums for Bell, Columbia, Jubilee, Seeco and other record companies in the United States and Europe...

, and Nancy Norman
Nancy Norman
Nancy Norman was an American vocalist.Nancy Norman studied voice while attending Roosevelt High School. Then, World War II erupted. Many of her classmates of Japanese descent, along with their families, were sent to relocation facilities outside of Los Angeles...

.

In the 1954-1955 television season, Kaye hosted the short-lived variety show So You Want to Lead a Band
So You Want to Lead a Band
So You Want to Lead a Band is a half-hour variety show hosted by Sammy Kaye which aired on ABC from August 5, 1954 to January 27, 1955.Members of the studio audience are invited to conduct the band. Then through its applause the audience chooses the winning amateur conductor. The winner receives a...

on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

.

Kaye died in Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood, Ohio
Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is part of the Greater Cleveland Metropolitan Area, and borders the city of Cleveland. The population was 52,131 at the 2010 making it the third largest city in Cuyahoga County, behind Cleveland and Parma .Lakewood, one of Cleveland's...

.

He was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992 and for his contribution to the recording industry has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...

. In the musical Bye Bye Birdie he is mentioned in the lyrics of the song "Kids": "Why can't they dance like we did?/What's wrong with Sammy Kaye?"

Discography

  • Come Dance to the Hits -- Decca DL 4502 -- 19xx
  • Music Maestro Please -- Columbia CL-668 -- 1956
  • Dance to My Golden Favorites (Decca DL 74121)
  • Come Dance to the Hits -- Decca Dl 4502 -- 19xx

Filmography

Sammy Kaye and his orchestra are featured in Iceland
Iceland (film)
Iceland is a 20th Century Fox musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone set in Iceland, starring skater Sonja Henie and John Payne as a U.S. Marine posted in Iceland during World War II...

, a 1942 film about the US Marines in Iceland during World War II. The film stars figure skater Sonja Henie and John Payne. He also has an Easter Egg in Jailhouse Rock a photo with the name Horace Winterbottom appears in the studio.

External links

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