Rudolph Valentino Render (July 1, 1926 – September 11, 2014)
Retrieved 5 November 2016 was an American singer, musician,

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

and songwriter, best known for his 1949

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

hit, "Sneakin' Around" and his work as

musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

for

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

Biography

He was born in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

, and studied piano in college. While at Indiana State University in May 1946 Rudy became a charter member of the Chi Sigma chapter of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African-American fraternity. The fraternity was founded on November 17, 1911, by three Howard University juniors Edgar Amos Love, Oscar James Cooper and Frank Coleman, and their faculty advi ...

fraternity. He began playing in clubs in Terre Haute, and was seen there by writer Bill Hays, the son of politician

Will H. Hays William Harrison Hays Sr. (; November 5, 1879 – March 7, 1954) was an American Republican politician. As chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1918–1921, Hays managed the successful 1920 presidential campaign of Warren G. Ha ...

, deviser of the

Hays Code The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...

. At Bill Hays' suggestion, Render moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

after completing his degree studies, and through agent

Berle Adams Berle Adams (born Beryl Adasky, 11 June 1917 – 25 August 2009) was an American music industry executive and talent booking agent best known for co-founding Mercury Records in the 1940s and later becoming a senior executive at MCA. Early life A ...

was immediately offered the chance to record

Jessie Mae Robinson Jessie Mae Robinson (née Booker, October 1, 1918 – October 26, 1966) was an American musician and songwriter, whose compositions included many R&B and pop hits of the 1940s and 1950s, including "Black Night", "I Went To Your Wedding", an ...

's song "Sneakin' Around" for

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

. The song rose to number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

in 1949. However, shortly afterwards Render was called up for military service, cutting short his recording career.Leonard_Kniffel
,_"My_Interview_with_Musician,_Teacher_Rudy_Render",_''PolishSon.com'',_December_3,_2014.html" ;"title="Leonard Kniffel">Leonard Kniffel
, "My Interview with Musician, Teacher Rudy Render", ''PolishSon.com'', December 3, 2014">Leonard Kniffel">Leonard Kniffel
, "My Interview with Musician, Teacher Rudy Render", ''PolishSon.com'', December 3, 2014 Retrieved 5 November 2016 After leaving the US Army, he had a small cameo appearance, cameo role in the 1953 Joan Crawford film ''Torch Song (1953 film), Torch Song'', before completing his education to earn a master's degree at Indiana State University, Indiana State Teachers College. He recorded unsuccessfully for small record labels, and in 1959 co-wrote with

Charles Lederer Charles Davies Lederer (December 31, 1910 – March 5, 1976) was an American screenwriter and film director. He was born into a theatrical family in New York, and after his parents divorced, was raised in California by his aunt, Marion Davies, ...

the title music for the film '' It Started with a Kiss'', starring

, whose brother was a friend. He became Debbie Reynolds' musical director, working with her on stage shows and the 1964 film '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'', for which she was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. He left the music business in 1972, and worked as an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

teacher in the

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

area until he retired in 2001. He died in 2014, aged 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Render, Rudy 1926 births 2014 deaths People from Terre Haute, Indiana Indiana State University people Musicians from Indiana American pianists American male pianists