Solid!

Born

• March 22, 1911
• Cleveland, OH

Real Name

• Harry Friedland

Theme Songs

• Sometimes I'm Happy (early)
• Yesterday and Today (later)

Blue Barron

After graduating from Ohio State University, where he played violin in a campus band, Blue Barron became a booking agent in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Barron's specialty was sweet orchestras, such as those of Guy Lombardo, Kay Kyser, and Sammy Kaye, the latter of whom he also managed. In 1936 Barron decided to form his own orchestra along those same lines. Though rough at first his outfit soon took on a slick sheen and by 1938 posed a challenge for the title ''King of the Mickey Mouse Bands.''

Barron never took himself or his music seriously, often making fun of it in private. In its early years the orchestra recorded for RCA and during the 1940s and 1950s for MGM. Its tagline was ''Music of Yesterday and Today, Styled the Blue Barron Way.'' Russ Carlyle was vocalist for several years, followed by Clyde Burke and Jimmy Brown, a former Kaye vocalist.

Barron was drafted into the Army Airborne Division during WWII. His orchestra continued performing in his absence, led by singer Tommy Ryan. Barron's biggest success came in 1949 with the hit song ''Cruisin' Down the River,'' which held the number one spot for seven weeks. He eventually disbanded his orchestra in 1956 but continued working into the 1960s.