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Born Annunzio
Paolo Mantovani, 15 November 1905, Venice, Italy, died 30
March 1980, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. A violinist, pianist,
musical director, conductor, composer and arranger, Mantovani
was one of the most successful orchestra leaders and album
sellers in the history of popular music. His father was principal
violinist at La Scala, Milan, under Arturo Toscanini, and
also served under Mascagni, Richter and Saint-Saens, and subsequently,
led the Covent Garden Orchestra. It is said that Mantovani
received encouragement to become a professional musician from
his mother, rather than his father. He began his musical training
on the piano, and later learned to play the violin. After
the family moved to England in 1912, he made his professional
debut at the age of 16, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto
Number 1. Four years later he had installed his own orchestra
at London's Hotel Metropole, and began his broadcasting career.
In the early 30s he formed the Tipica Orchestra and began
a series of lunchtime broadcasts from the famous Monseigneur
Restaurant in Piccadilly, London, and started recording for
Regal Zonophone. He had two US hits in 1935-36, with 'Red
Sails In The Sunset' and 'Serenade In The Night'. In the 40s,
Mantovani served as musical director for several London West
End shows, including Lady Behave, Twenty To One, Meet Me Victoria,
And So To Bed, Bob's Your Uncle and La-Di-Da-Di-Da. He was
also involved in Noel Coward's Pacific 1860 and Ace Of Clubs;
conducting from the theatre pit for artists such as Lupino
Lane, Pat Kirkwood, Mary Martin, Sally Gray, Leslie Henson
and many others. His records for UK Decca included 'The Green
Cockatoo', 'Hear My Song, Violetta' and 'Tell Me, Marianne'
(vocal by Val Merrall). Experimenting with various arrangements
with which to target the lucrative US market, he, came up
with what has been variously called the 'cascading strings',
'cascading violins', or 'tumbling strings' effect, said to
be an original idea of arranger Ronald Binge. It became, the
Orchestra's trademark and was first used to great effect in
1951, on Mantovani's recording of 'Charmaine', a song originally
written to promote the 1926 silent film classic What Price
Glory?. The Mantovani recording was the first of several million-selling
singles for his orchestra, which included 'Wyoming', (another
20s number), 'Greensleeves', 'Song From Moulin Rouge' (a UK
number 1), 'Swedish Rhapsody' and 'Lonely Ballerina'. Mantovani's
own compositions included 'Serenata d'Amore', 'A Poem To The
Moon', 'Royal Blue Waltz', 'Dance Of The Eighth Veil', 'Toy
Shop Ballet' (Ivor Novello Award 1956), 'Red Petticoats',
'Brass Buttons'. 'Tango In the Night' and 'Cara Mia', written
with UK record producer/manager Bunny Lewis. David Whitfield's
1954 recording of 'Cara Mia', with Mantovani's orchestra accompaniment,
sold over a million copies, and stayed at number 1 in the
UK charts for a record (at the time) 10 weeks. It also made
Whitfield one of the earliest UK artists to break into the
US Top 10. Mantovani issued an instrumental version of the
number, featuring himself on piano. This was most unusual
in that the instrument was rarely a part of his 40-piece orchestral
set-up. Singles apart, it was as an album artist that Mantovani
excelled around the world, and especially in the USA. He is
said to have been the first to sell over a million stereo
units, aided in no small measure by the superb quality of
sound obtained by Decca. Between 1955 and 1966 he had 28 albums
in the US Top 30. Although he toured many countries of the
world, including Russia, his popularity in the LISA, where
his style of orchestral offerings were often referred to as
'the beautiful music', was unique. An indication of the US
audience's devotion can be gained from a claim by George Elrick,
Mantovani's manager of 21 years, that at the beginning of
one tour of the USA, the maestro was taken ill and a few concerts
had to be cancelled: the prospective capacity audience at
one of them, the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis,
refused to claim refunds, preferring to retain their tickets
for the following year. Mantovani continued to perform throughout
the 60s and 70s. He was awarded a special Ivor Novello Award
in 1956 for services to popular music.
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