Sammy Kaye (born Samuel Zarnocay Jr.; March 13, 1910 – June 2, 1987) was an American bandleader and songwriter, whose tag line, "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

Era. The expression springs from his first hit single in 1937, " Swing and Sway" (U.S. no. 15). He was the first to record and release the standard "

Blueberry Hill "Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940, best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. It was recorded six times in 1940 ...

" in 1940. During World War II, he co-wrote and recorded the anthemic " Remember Pearl Harbor" (U.S. No. 3). He was the first to record and release the no. 1 song " Daddy" in 1941. His signature tune was " Harbor Lights", a number-one hit in 1950.

Biography

Kaye, born in

Lakewood, Ohio Lakewood is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, on the southern shore of Lake Erie. Established in 1889, it is one of Cleveland's historical streetcar suburbs and part of the Greater Cleveland, Greater Clevelan ...

, United States, graduated from Rocky River High School in

Rocky River, Ohio Rocky River is a city in western Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. A suburb of Cleveland, it is located along the shore of Lake Erie approximately west of downtown Cleveland. The city is named for the Rocky River that forms its eastern bo ...

. At

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

Athens, Ohio Athens is a city and the county seat of Athens County, Ohio. The population was 23,849 at the 2020 census. Located along the Hocking River within Appalachian Ohio about southeast of Columbus, Athens is best known as the home of Ohio Universit ...

he was a member of Theta Chi fraternity. Kaye could play the saxophone and the clarinet, but he never featured himself as a soloist on either instrument. A leader of one of the so-called "Sweet" bands of the Big Band Era, he made a large number of records for

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

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

, and the American

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in We ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

. 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 and

Blue Barron Blue Barron (November 19, 1913 – July 16, 2005), born Harry Freidman, was an American orchestra leader in the 1940s and early 1950s during the Big Band era. His band's more subdued tone was referred to as "Sweet" music to distinguish it from th ...

. He was the first to record and release "

" in 1941, a song which became a standard in several genres, including pop, jazz, Big Band, Swing, and rock and roll. He was also the first to record and release the classic song " Daddy" in 1941, which hit no. 1 and which was recorded by other bands and singers. Shortly after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, Sammy Kaye wrote the music and Don Reid wrote the words to " Remember Pearl Harbor", the tune of which was based on Ohio University's "Alma Mater". On December 17, 1941, RCA Victor recorded the song, with Sammy Kaye's Swing and Sway Band and The Glee Club. The 78 single was released in 1942, reaching no. 3 on the charts. By 1955, Sammy Kaye was also featured five times a week on several national radio networks through the

RCA Thesaurus thumb RCA Thesaurus, a brand owned by RCA Victor, was a supplier of electrical transcriptions. Efforts were made as early as 1936 to consolidate The RCA Victor Transcription service with NBC's independent transcription service within the NBC radio n ...

transcription service. His band members included

Ralph Flanagan Ralph Elias Flenniken (April 7, 1914 – December 30, 1995), known professionally as Ralph Flanagan, was an American big band leader, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, an ...

. Singers included Don Cornell (not related to Dale Cornell), Billy Williams (the

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer with the Pecos River Rogues), Tommy Ryan, Gary Willner,

Barry Frank Barry Frank (September 1930 – December 2, 2016) was a smooth-voiced 1950s and early 1960s pop and rock and roll vocalist who professionally recorded numerous 78s, 45s, 33s, and extended play/long play albums for Bell, Columbia, Jubilee, Seeco a ...

, Tony Russo, and

Nancy Norman Nancy Norman (born Florence Berman on April 23, 1925) is an American singer. Norman was born in Los Angeles, California Norman studied voice while attending Roosevelt High School. She sang with a swing orchestra led by Edmundo Martinez Tostado. ...

. All members of the band sometimes sang backing vocals in various combination as the "Kaydets". Although his musicians were always competent, the jazz critic

George T. Simon George Thomas Simon (May 9, 1912 – February 13, 2001) was an American jazz writer and occasional drummer. He began as a drummer and performed in this role in early versions of Glenn Miller's orchestra. He wrote about that orchestra in 1974 with ...

described them as "magnificently trained and exceedingly unoriginal".

Television

Kaye had the following shows on network television: *''The Sammy Kaye Show'' on

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

(1951–52) *''The Sammy Kaye Show'' on

NBC Television The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

(summer 1953) *'' So You Want to Lead a Band'' on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

(1954–55) *''Sammy Kaye's Music From Manhattan'' on ABC (1958–59)

Death

Kaye died at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His body was returned to Lakewood, Ohio and after a Mass at St. Christopher Catholic Church in Rocky River, he was buried in the family plot next to his parents at Lakewood Park Cemetery. Prior to his death in 1987, Sammy Kaye left his orchestra to Roger Thorpe of New Paltz, New York. Thorpe, an accomplished music professor at SUNY Dutchess and director of the Dutchess Jazz Ensemble, knew Sammy from over the years. Thorpe operates the orchestra to this day.

In popular culture

*In October 1939, Kaye's "sweet band" sound was satirized by Charlie Barnet and his Orchestra with the song "The Wrong Idea (Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet)" written by Charlie Barnet and

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad'' (1968), ''Batman'' (with '' Batgirl'' them ...

Discography

Compositions

Sammy Kaye wrote or co-wrote the following songs: " Remember Pearl Harbor" (U.S. No. 3), "Until Tomorrow (Goodnight, My Love)" (U.S. No. 10), "Belmont Boogie", "Kaye's Melody", "Wanderin'" (U.S. No. 11), "I Gotta See a Dream About a Girl", "I Miss Your Kiss" and "Bottoms Up (Let's Have a Ball)" with

Sunny Skylar Sunny Skylar (October 11, 1913 – February 2, 2009) was an American composer, singer, lyricist, and music publisher. He was born Selig Sidney Shaftel in Brooklyn, New York, one of four children, to Sarah and Jacob Shaftel (or Schaftel), Jewish im ...

, "The Midnight Ride", and "Hawaiian Sunset". "I Miss Your Kiss" was released as a U.S. War Department V-Disc in May, 1945 as 433A during World War II for American troops overseas.

Filmography

* ''

Song of the Open Road ''Song of the Open Road'' is a 1944 musical comedy film directed by S. Sylvan Simon, from a screenplay by Irving Phillips and Edward Verdier. It was the debut film of teenage singer Jane Powell. Powell's real name was Suzanne Burce, but prior to ...

'' (1944) * ''

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

'' (1942)

Legacy

Kaye 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 The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

References

External links

*
Official Website

Sammy Kaye recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Sammy 1910 births 1987 deaths American bandleaders American male songwriters Big band bandleaders RCA Victor artists Decca Records artists Vocalion Records artists Musicians from Lakewood, Ohio Ohio University alumni Deaths from cancer in New Jersey Songwriters from Ohio Burials at Lakewood Park Cemetery 20th-century American male musicians Rocky River High School (Ohio) alumni 20th-century American songwriters