Paul Whiteman(1890-1967)
- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
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.
