Mancini Henry

American musician, conductor, composer, writer and arranger who created memorable, elegant melodies and songs such as "Moon River" from Blake Edwards "Breakfast at Tiffanys." Mancini achieved universal popularity with a prolific output of film music, garnering four Oscars and 20 Grammy awards. Mancini won his Oscars for "Moon River," 1962, "Days of Wine and Roses," 1963, the score for "Breakfast at Tiffanys" and "Victor-Victoria" in 1983. He recorded more than 90 albums; six going gold. Mancini changed film and music history by departing from strictly classical music scores to introducing unprecedented contemporary scores to films. By his work, he won respect from others in the music industry and commercial success from the album purchasing public. He wrote his autobiography, "Did They Mention the Music?" Proud of his Italian-American heritage, Mancini grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His father worked in a steel mill and spent his leisure playing flute in the local Sons of Italy band. His dad encouraged Mancini to take up music but his son preferred playing football. Reluctantly, he tinkered with the piano, flute and piccolo while his dad badgered him to practice - until his dad introduced him to jazz, when he changed his mind about music. He joined the school band and played in a dance band. At 13, he was playing the saxophone choruses from his Artie Shaw records. As a teen, he idolized Glenn Miller. In 1937, he won the position of first flutist in the Pennsylvania All-State Band. He graduated from high school in 1942 and went to study classical music at the Carnegie Institute of Technology Music School and then went to the Juilliard School of Music in New York. During WWII, he served in the Army Air Corps and infantry arranging big band music for the Army band. After the war, he played piano for Glenn Millers band under the direction of Tex Beneke. With the demise in popularity for swing band music, Mancini came upon financial hardships. His lean years were between 1947-1952. Struggling to earn a living, he went to Hollywood and found employment with Universal Studios in the composing department in 1952. He contributed to more than 100 films in six years. In 1954, he gained attention and praise with his film score for the "Glenn Miller Story." He earned his first Oscar nomination for film score for the movie. Mancinis big break occurred after a chance meeting with Blake Edwards outside the Universal barbershop in 1958. Edwards asked Mancini to score his new TV show theme "Peter Gunn." Mancini created a cool, sophisticated jazz tune that was hummable and enhanced the mood and suspense of the show. He wrote memorable tunes for the films, "Days of Wine and Roses," 1962, "Baby Elephant Walk" from "Hatari," 1962, "Charade," 1963, "Pink Panther," 1964, "Love Story theme," 1971, and "Victor, Victoria" in 1982. He composed music for TV with "Newhart," 1982, and "The Thorn Birds" in 1983. Mancini was a courteous maestro appearing in 50 sold-out concerts a year around the world. He conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Royal Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He gave command performances before Britains royal family in 1966, 1980 and 1984. In 1985, he was the Grand Marshal of the New York City Columbus Day Parade. In April 1994, he was awarded a Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award. On 4/19/1994, he was serenaded by Luciano Pavarotti and Andy Williams a Read less