Charles Randolph Grean (October 1, 1913 – December 20, 2003) was an American producer and composer.

Biography

Professional life

Grean's first work was as a copyist in several

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 and ...

s, including

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

, and

Charlie Spivak Charlie Spivak (c. February 17, 1904 – March 1, 1982) was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s. Early life According to his immigration record, Sender Spivakovsky was born around 1904 in the village ...

. He worked at

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

under

Steve Sholes Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with RCA Victor. Career Sholes was born in Washington, D.C., and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of ni ...

, producing

country and Western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, or d ...

recordings by such artists as

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' country music charts, second onl ...

Pee Wee King Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (February 18, 1914 – March 7, 2000), known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "Tennessee Waltz". Pee Wee King is credited with ...

, the

Sons of the Pioneers The Sons of the Pioneers are one of the United States' earliest Western singing groups. Known for their vocal performances, their musicianship, and their songwriting, they produced innovative recordings that have inspired many Western music per ...

, Texas Jim Robertson and Elton Britt. He was the arranger for the

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...

recording of "

The Christmas Song "The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells (songwriter), Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat K ...

." In 1950, he wrote " The Thing," a popular song which reached number one on the charts in a version sung by

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, bandleader, entertainer and singer. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with '' The Jack Benny Program'', then in '' The Phil ...

. The same year he became the head of A&R at

, passing over his previous superior, Sholes. In the early 1950s he formed a production company with Joseph Csida called Csida-Grean, a management company which had handled Arnold's career and produced his syndicated television show, '' Eddy Arnold Time''. One of Grean's compositions became a focus of litigation in 1958 in the case ''Dorchester Music v. National Broadcasting Company'' 71 F. Supp. 580 (S.D. Cal. 1959) Fred Spielman, who had composed the song "Rendezvous" in 1953, charged that Grean had plagiarized from his song in writing " I Dreamed," using the access he had as A&R director to the original manuscripts when "Rendezvous" was submitted to RCA for recording. (No charge was made with reference to the lyrics.) The court found in favor of the plaintiff on November 18, 1958. Grean co-wrote the song "

He'll Have to Stay "He'll Have to Stay" is a song written by Audrey Allison, Charles Grean, and Joe Allison and performed by Jeanne Black. The song is an answer song to Jim Reeves' 1959 hit "He'll Have to Go". It was produced by Ken Nelson. It reached #4 on the ...

" (answer to 1959's "

He'll Have to Go "He'll Have to Go" is a song recorded on October 15, 1959, by Jim Reeves. The song, released in the fall of 1959, went on to become a hit on both the country and pop charts early in 1960. Background The song is about a man who's talking by teleph ...

") that went to #4 on the US pop chart by

Jeanne Black Gloria Jeanne Black (October 25, 1937 – October 23, 2014) was an American country music singer. Life and career Gloria Jeanne Black was born on October 25, 1937, in Pomona, California. She first gained wide exposure singing on Cliffie Stone' ...

in 1960. In the late 60s, much of his success came from working with

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

, for whom he produced and wrote a great portion of Nimoy's music. He also produced Betty Johnson's hits " I Dreamed" and "The Little Blue Man." He also produced The Mills Brothers' late 1960s album ''

Fortuosity "Fortuosity" is the first song in the 1967 motion picture ''The Happiest Millionaire'' which was written by the Sherman Brothers and performed by Tommy Steele playing the part of "John Lawless" (the butler). Richard Sherman stated that the word mean ...

'', which yielded the hit "

Cab Driver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

". In 1969 he reached the charts as a performer, with his group, the Charles Randolph Grean Sounde, doing a version of

Robert Cobert Robert Cobert (October 26, 1924 – February 19, 2020) was an American composer who worked in television and films. He is best known for his work with producer/director Dan Curtis, notably the scores for the 1966–71 ABC-TV gothic fiction soap ...

's "Quentin's Theme" from ''

Dark Shadows ''Dark Shadows'' is an American Gothic fiction, Gothic soap opera that aired weekdays on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network from June 27, 1966, to April 2, 1971. The show depicted the lives, loves, trials, and tribulatio ...

''. (''Billboard'' #13 pop, #3 easy listening, Cash Box #8, #5

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

) In 1973, his group was the stage band for

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, writer, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine's ob ...

's return to late-night television, ''Jack Paar Tonite'', which aired as one of the rotating programs featured on

ABC's Wide World of Entertainment ''ABC's Wide World of Entertainment'' is a late night television block of programs created by the ABC television network. It premiered on January 8, 1973, and ended three years later. The title was based on the long-running broadcast ''ABC's Wid ...

on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

television network. On December 20, 2003, he died from natural causes at age 90.Obituary of Charles Randolph Grean

Personal life

Grean was married four times, once to Betty Johnson; although the marriage to Johnson was short-lived, the professional relationship continued and he produced a number of her recordings.

References

External Links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grean, Charles Randolph 1913 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians American male composers Record producers from New York (state) American male songwriters