Henry Mancini Biography

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Henry Mancini
Instrumental | 3 CD Set
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Jazz played a big part in the life of Henry Mancini, whose contributions to movies and TV soundtracks was immense. Born Enrico Mancini in 1924 in Cleveland, Mancini's steelworker father prompted his son to take up music in the form of several instruments. He fell in love with big bands and jazz (in the '30s) and after high school, he enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. However, World War II put a crimp in his education and he went into the Service. He had earlier sent arrangements to Benny Goodman, who, although not using them, gave the fledgling composer/arranger encouragement. After the war, Mancini was able to work as pianist and arranger for the Glenn Miller orchestra, now run by saxophonist Tex Beneke. Then came a studio job arranging for a recording date for his wife, Ginny O'Connor, who was a member of Mel Torme's signing group, the Mel-Tones. He then was asked to write his first film score, for the Abbott & Costello flick "Lost In Alaska." His knowledge of jazz and big band music paid off with commissions to write for two bio-films, "The Glenn Miller Story" (1954) and "The Benny Goodman Story" (1956). His increasingly dramatic soundtrack style was used to great effect on the Orson Welles classic, "Touch of Evil," in 1958. Jazz came to TV with the series "Peter Gunn" and "Mr. Lucky" but by the dawn of the '60s, Mancini was creating memorable works for films like "Breakfast At Tiffany's;" "Days of Wine and Roses;" "Charade;" "Hatari!" and "Pink Panther," among many others over the years. Mancini's "Theme From Mr. Lucky" was his first charted hit at No. 21 in 1960 but he followed that with "Moon River" reaching No. 11. Of several chart singles, "Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet" was the only to get to No. 1, in 1969. On the Grammy front, Mancini was a big winner, nabbing 20 statuettes between 1958 and 1970. He died in 1994 while working on the score for the stage adaptation of "Victor/Victoria," for which he had written the film score in 1982.

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