Solid!

Born

• February 14, 1896
• Oakland, CA

Died

• February 7, 1969
• Sacramento, CA

Theme Song

• I'm Writing You This Little Melody

Anson Weeks

• BIOGRAPHY
• FILMOGRAPHY
• COMPOSITIONS

Anson Weeks was a pioneering West Coast bandleader. He formed his first dance orchestra in 1924 and quickly became popular with the Bay Area crowd. From 1927 to 1934 he was a fixture at San Francisco's Mark Hopkins Hotel, where he first began to use the catch phrase ''Come Dancin' with Anson.'' The band's shows at the hotel were broadcast almost nightly on the West Coast by NBC during 1930. In 1931 he gained national recognition with a weekly NBC radio program, The Lucky Strike Magic Carpet Show.

Bob Crosby, Xavier Cugat and Tony Martin were all members of Week's orchestra at one time. During the 1930s a pre-cowgirl Dale Evans was his female vocalist. The orchestra first recorded for Columbia in 1928 and backed Bing Crosby on one of his early best-selling recordings, ''Please.''

Weeks took his outfit on the road in the mid-1930s. He ended up in New York, where he enjoyed a long run at the St. Regis Hotel. In 1941 a bus accident left Weeks seriously injured. He led orchestras off and on during the war years, in between treatments and surgeries. In 1946 when the Big Band boom went bust he retired and went into the real estate business in Santa Rosa, California. In 1956 he formed a new orchestra and went on tour, recording three albums for Fantasy Records. During the 1960s he fronted a combo, mostly in the Sacramento area. Anson Weeks died in 1969. His son, Jack, was also an orchestra leader.