Paul Whiteman

Overview

Paul Whiteman began his musical career as a viola player for the San Francisco Symphony. He enlisted in the Navy during World War I, and his musical abilities resulted in the Navy putting him in charge of his own band. After the war he moved to New York in 1920, where he recorded his first hit, Whispering/The Japanese Sandman. It sold more than two million copies, making Whiteman an instant star. In 1924 he introduced the George Gershwin classic Rhapsody in Blue, which became the band's signature song. Whiteman had the foresight to hire some of the best jazz musicians of the era, including Red Nichols, Frankie Trumbauer, Tommy Dorsey and Bix Beiderbecke. Bing Crosby got his start with Whiteman in 1929, in a trio called the Rhythm Boys. Whiteman's band continued its run into the 1930s, but toward the end of the decade their popularity began to wane, and in the early 1940s Whiteman took a job as musical director for the American Broadcasting Co., a position he kept into the '60s. He would put together his band every so often during that period, and in the early 1960s they even managed to secure engagements in Las Vegas, after which Whiteman retired.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Unlike many of his contemporaries, he always kept an open, and enthusiastic, mind about what was going on in the music world. In 1966, he admitted that The Beatles were "turning out some lovely stuff," and that "were I a young man getting started in the music business these days, I'd probably grow my hair long and form a rock 'n' roll band."
Co-founded Capitol Records in 1942, along with songwriter/film producer Buddy G. DeSylva, singer/songwriter Johnny Mercer, and record retailer Glen Wallichs.
A close friend of George Gershwin. Whiteman, with Gershwin at the piano, introduced Rhapsody in Blue to the public in 1924 and recorded it later that same year. Whiteman appeared as himself in Gershwin's film biography Rhapsody in Blue (1945) and conducted numerous Gershwin tribute concerts over the years.
A legendary judge of talent, Whiteman's discoveries over the years included Bing Crosby, Dick Clark, and Bobby Rydell.
Composer Richard Rodgers originally wrote The Carousel Waltz especially for Whiteman's orchestra. Whiteman never used it, so Rodgers inserted it into the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.