Alan Copeland, the songwriter, Grammy-winning arranger and ultra-smooth vocalist known for his many years with The Modernaires and performances on Your Hit Parade and The Red Skelton Hour, has died. He was 96.
Copeland died Dec. 28 in an assisted living facility in Sonora, California, his friend Bob Lehmann told The Hollywood Reporter.
As recently as this fall, Copeland was still singing and playing keyboards in a quartet called Now You Hazz Jazz. “It was his dream to play in a small group until the last curtain, that’s how he termed it,” said Lehmann, the drummer.
Copeland wrote or co-wrote songs including “Make Love to Me” — Jo Stafford’s version made it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1954 — “Too Young to Know,” “High Society,” “This Must Be the Place, “Darling, Darling, Darling” and “While the Vesper Bells Were Ringing.”
After taking arranging lessons from Henry Mancini, he arranged vocals for...
Copeland died Dec. 28 in an assisted living facility in Sonora, California, his friend Bob Lehmann told The Hollywood Reporter.
As recently as this fall, Copeland was still singing and playing keyboards in a quartet called Now You Hazz Jazz. “It was his dream to play in a small group until the last curtain, that’s how he termed it,” said Lehmann, the drummer.
Copeland wrote or co-wrote songs including “Make Love to Me” — Jo Stafford’s version made it to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1954 — “Too Young to Know,” “High Society,” “This Must Be the Place, “Darling, Darling, Darling” and “While the Vesper Bells Were Ringing.”
After taking arranging lessons from Henry Mancini, he arranged vocals for...
- 1/7/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer Simon Phillips.
If you were a rock superstar in the Seventies, Eighties, or Nineties and you needed a drummer for a near-impossible job,...
If you were a rock superstar in the Seventies, Eighties, or Nineties and you needed a drummer for a near-impossible job,...
- 1/21/2021
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
When teenager Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff sang along to Ella Fitzgerald on the radio, the Cincinnati native could never have predicted that, as Doris Day, she would go on to become one of the 20th century’s most beloved performers, first as a vocalist, then as an actress and then finally as an outspoken champion for the rights of animals.
But it was those radio sing-alongs that inspired Alma Welz Kappelhoff to send her daughter to a vocal coach, and by the time Doris was 17, she was singing for bandleader Barney Rapp, who convinced her to change her name to a more marquee-friendly length.
Day would go on to sing for the likes of Jimmy James and Bob Crosby, but it was her collaboration with Les Brown and His Band of Renown in the late 1940s that would rocket her to national stardom with hits like “Sentimental Journey” and “‘Till the End of Time.
But it was those radio sing-alongs that inspired Alma Welz Kappelhoff to send her daughter to a vocal coach, and by the time Doris was 17, she was singing for bandleader Barney Rapp, who convinced her to change her name to a more marquee-friendly length.
Day would go on to sing for the likes of Jimmy James and Bob Crosby, but it was her collaboration with Les Brown and His Band of Renown in the late 1940s that would rocket her to national stardom with hits like “Sentimental Journey” and “‘Till the End of Time.
- 5/13/2019
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Doris Day may have died with a reputation of being Hollywood’s most scrubbed-clean and wholesome girl-next-door type. But she made it to the big screen courtesy her warmly simmering and easily quavering vocal tones. Before films beckoned, she was a featured vocalist with big band-era kings such as Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother) and Les Brown and His Band of Renown, the latter of which recorded Day sunnily crooning “Sentimental Journey” and “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time.”
While both ballads made her the toast of radio fans and World War II vets coming home from the battlefront in 1945, Day had so much more to offer during her sadly abbreviated singing career — which included one album released in the 21st century, “My Heart,” and a host of previously unreleased songs she recorded with her composer-producer son, the late Terry Melcher.
Here are some signature smashes and cool surprises from Doris Day.
While both ballads made her the toast of radio fans and World War II vets coming home from the battlefront in 1945, Day had so much more to offer during her sadly abbreviated singing career — which included one album released in the 21st century, “My Heart,” and a host of previously unreleased songs she recorded with her composer-producer son, the late Terry Melcher.
Here are some signature smashes and cool surprises from Doris Day.
- 5/13/2019
- by A.D. Amorosi
- Variety Film + TV
Doris Day, one of Hollywood’s most popular stars of the 1950s and ’60s who was Oscar-nommed for “Pillow Talk” and starred in her own TV show, has died. She was 97.
The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed the legendary actress-singer died on Monday at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home.
Though she was marketed as a wholesome girl-next-door type, the comedies for which she was most well-known were actually sexy and daring for their time, and her personal life was tumultuous, with four marriages and a notorious lawsuit.
The vivacious blonde, who also had a successful singing career, teamed with Rock Hudson in “Pillow Talk” and other lighthearted romantic comedies including “Lover Come Back” and “Send Me No Flowers.” Her other significant screen roles included Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956), co-starring James Stewart and featuring Day’s Oscar-winning song “Que Sera Sera; and “The Pajama Game” (1957), based on the Broadway musical.
The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed the legendary actress-singer died on Monday at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home.
Though she was marketed as a wholesome girl-next-door type, the comedies for which she was most well-known were actually sexy and daring for their time, and her personal life was tumultuous, with four marriages and a notorious lawsuit.
The vivacious blonde, who also had a successful singing career, teamed with Rock Hudson in “Pillow Talk” and other lighthearted romantic comedies including “Lover Come Back” and “Send Me No Flowers.” Her other significant screen roles included Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1956), co-starring James Stewart and featuring Day’s Oscar-winning song “Que Sera Sera; and “The Pajama Game” (1957), based on the Broadway musical.
- 5/13/2019
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Doris Day, the beautiful blonde whose sunny screen presence and silken singing voice guaranteed box-office and record-chart hits in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, has died, her rep confirms to People. She was 97.
Day died at 1:00 A.M. on Monday at her home in California, the rep says.
The Associated Press was first to report the news, which comes nearly two months after the actress celebrated her birthday and shared a recent photo with People.
Although in 2012 she released a CD of songs she recorded years ago, since the early ’80s, the world’s favorite “girl next door” kept...
Day died at 1:00 A.M. on Monday at her home in California, the rep says.
The Associated Press was first to report the news, which comes nearly two months after the actress celebrated her birthday and shared a recent photo with People.
Although in 2012 she released a CD of songs she recorded years ago, since the early ’80s, the world’s favorite “girl next door” kept...
- 5/13/2019
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...
Judy Garland was wrapping production on one movie and starting production on another when she filmed a cameo for the WWII wartime musical, Thousands Cheer. Despite the fact that Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars, this cameo with José Iturbi was the first Technicolor movie she had made since The Wizard of Oz four years previous. The films between Oz and Thousands Cheer, though large in spirit, were small in budget due to Great Depression constraints. However, the onset of World War II brought about an audience boom - everyone was going to the movies to catch a newsreel and escape the fears of the war. As a result, budgets were about to skyrocket as MGM began to give Judy Garland big and colorful sets, costumes, and scenery to match her big and colorful voice.
The Movie: Thousands Cheer (1943)
The Songwriters: Roger Edens,...
Judy Garland was wrapping production on one movie and starting production on another when she filmed a cameo for the WWII wartime musical, Thousands Cheer. Despite the fact that Garland was one of MGM's biggest stars, this cameo with José Iturbi was the first Technicolor movie she had made since The Wizard of Oz four years previous. The films between Oz and Thousands Cheer, though large in spirit, were small in budget due to Great Depression constraints. However, the onset of World War II brought about an audience boom - everyone was going to the movies to catch a newsreel and escape the fears of the war. As a result, budgets were about to skyrocket as MGM began to give Judy Garland big and colorful sets, costumes, and scenery to match her big and colorful voice.
The Movie: Thousands Cheer (1943)
The Songwriters: Roger Edens,...
- 5/11/2016
- by Anne Marie
- FilmExperience
She lit up movie screens and record charts in the '40s, '50s and '60s, and - as she turns 90 on April 3 - Doris Day remains one of America's Sweethearts. Here is the birthday girl in a recent shot outside her Carmel, Calif., home. Note her companion - the star has been a champion of furry friends for decades, and, in lieu of gifts on her big day, she asks for contributions to the Doris Day Animal Foundation. As Day told People in a rare 2011 interview, "I love life. I have my pets around me and good friends.
- 4/3/2014
- by Stephen M. Silverman and Liz McNeil
- PEOPLE.com
Los Angeles — Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94.
Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.
Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.
She could also deliver sentimental ballads like "I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time" with a sincerity that caused hardened GIs far from home to weep.
"When I was a kid, I only had two records and one of them was the Andrews Sisters. They were remarkable. Their sound, so pure," said Bette Midler, who...
Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.
Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.
She could also deliver sentimental ballads like "I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time" with a sincerity that caused hardened GIs far from home to weep.
"When I was a kid, I only had two records and one of them was the Andrews Sisters. They were remarkable. Their sound, so pure," said Bette Midler, who...
- 1/31/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Patty Andrews, last surviving member of the Andrews sisters, has died. She was 94 and died today at her home in Northridge, CA. The phenomenally popular singing trio that entertained U.S. troops during World War II even announced the war’s end in 1945 to 5,000 G.I.’s while they were performing at a show in Italy. Laverne (top), Patty (center), and Maxene (bottom) also appeared in movies and on TV. A signature song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B” was featured in the 1941 Abbott & Costello film Buck Privates. They appeared in more than a dozen features, including another Abbott & Costello film In the Navy, and the 1947 Bob Hope-Bing Crosby-Dorothy Lamour vehicle Road to Rio. With Crosby they also performed the hit “Don’t Fence Me In” and several other tunes. They also sang with the big bands of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Crosby,...
- 1/31/2013
- by THE DEADLINE TEAM
- Deadline TV
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