Biography of Nelson Riddle

While Nelson Riddle had experience as a trombonist and arranger for Charlie Spivak, Jerry Wald, and Tommy Dorsey in the '40s and was a staff arranger for NBC radio later in that era, he achieved his greatest success and notoriety during the '50s. Riddle was the arranger and conductor for Judy Garland, Jimmy Wakely, Betty Hutton, Ella Mae Morse, and many others in the early '50s, including Nat King Cole, but became the top arranger in Hollywood through his collaborations with Frank Sinatra during 1953. Riddle's orchestrations and careful, intelligent use of first-class jazz musicians accented Sinatra's voice perfectly, without obscuring, challenging, or threatening. No one was better at knowing when to increase the brass section's volume, how to support a singer, and what soloist to spotlight and for how long.Riddle enjoyed some success on his own during the '50s, including a Grammy award in 1958 and a #1 pop hit in 1955. He later expanded his activities to work with Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Rosemary Clooney, and Johnny Mathis and became a busy film soundtrack arranger, composer, and conductor as well. He contributed to hit movies such as The St. Louis Blues and Pajama Game and did the theme music for the TV shows Route 66 and The Untouchables. He was musical director for the Julie Andrews variety show in the '70s and came back from health problems to arrange and conduct Grammy-winning albums for Linda Ronstadt in the '80s. His last work was a 1985 arrangement for opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa. ~ Ron Wynn