Les Brown
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Born

  • March 14, 1912
  • Reinerton, PA

Died

  • January 4, 2001
  • Los Angeles, CA

Full Name

  • Lester Raymond Brown

Marriages / Children

  • Georgia Claire (Cluny) de Wolfe (1938)
  • Denny (daughter)
  • Les, Jr.

Theme Songs

  • Dance of the Blue Devils (early)
  • Leap Frog (opening)
  • Sentimental Journey (closing)

Les Brown

Tireless bandleader Les Brown's career spanned more than seventy years. Remembered best today for vocalist Doris Day and the song ''Sentimental Journey,'' as well as for his work with Bob Hope and his efforts to entertain American troops abroad, Les truly reflected the spirit of the golden age of American popular music. His band members loved and respected him and took pride in their music. They also had a great deal of fun.

Raised in Tower City, Pennsylvania, Les' father, a baker by trade, played soprano in a sax quartet that performed the music of John Phillip Sousa. Les began playing sax at an early age and made his professional debut in a band at age nine. At age 14 he formed his own orchestra, The Royal Serertadore. He later enrolled at the Ithaca Conservatory of Music, where he studied classical clarinet. He then attended Duke University and joined the Blue Devils orchestra, which he took over as leader in his junior year. The group left Duke behind in the spring of 1936 and went on the road, finally disbanding late the next year.

After the group's break up Les kept busy arranging for such orchestra leaders as Larry Clinton, Ruby Newman, and Don Bestor. In the summer of 1938 he fronted a local band at Budd Lake, New Jersey, which recorded for Decca. He had planned to take a permanent job with Clinton when the season ended, but club management wouldn't let him quit. At about that same time he switched labels to Bluebird, and an RCA Victor exec took interest in him, convincing him to organize a better band and getting him a booking in the Green Room of New York's Edison Hotel.

Starting with only twelve pieces, the orchestra quickly grew in both quantity and quality. Its greatest failing, however, was a lack of intimacy with its audience. Even the arrival of Doris Day in the summer of 1940 didn't make the band seem any warmer. Doris had been working for Bob Crosby's group but had decided to quit after, reports say, a member of the band had made strong passes at her and frightened her. She fit right in with Brown's group, who were probably as respectable as swing musicians could be! Doris stayed for only a year, retiring, temporarily, to marry Jimmy Dorsey musician Al Jordan.

The band finally came of age in the summer of 1941 with its first big hit, ''Joltin' Joe DiMaggio,'' which, unfortunately, they couldn't record until 1943 due to the musician's recording ban. With their new success the orchestra finally began to loosen up and reach their audiences, adopting several novelty numbers and joking around on stage. Vocalists at that time were Betty Bonney, Butch Stone and Ralph Young. By that time the group had become known as ''Les Brown and His Band of Renown,'' a name given to them by a radio announcer.

In 1942 the orchestra starred in its first movie, Seven Days Leave, with Lucille Ball and Carmen Miranda, and began a series of Coca-Cola-sponsored radio broadcasts from military bases. Les also talked Doris Day into returning late that year, and not long after they recorded their biggest hit, ''Sentimental Journey.'' The group remained popular throughout the war years. Brown, however, began to be less and less interested in being a bandleader and more interested in the music publishing business. In December 1946 he quit the band and settled in Los Angeles but soon learned that he had forgotten about a March booking at the Palladium. Management wouldn't let him out of his contract, so he was forced to throw together a new band for the engagement. After the booking he decided to continue working with the new group.

In the late 1940s Les and his orchestra appeared on Bob Hope's radio program. In the 1960s and 1970s they worked on Bob Hope television specials and on Dean Martin's and Steve Allen's various programs, and they continued to perform through the 1990s. In 1996 Les Brown was awarded an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the leader of the longest lasting musical organization in the history of popular music. Les Brown passed away from lung cancer in 2001.