Vera conniff biography
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Click on the album cover on the left and read it in English. When a friend of his told him that Boston was too small for a talented musician to make it, Ray headed for the Big Apple.
Ray arrived in New York at the birth of "swing". In 1966 they recorded a piece called "Lara's Theme" for the Dr. It was this involvement at Columbia Records that initially set into motion Conniff's commercial career, which spanned the second half of the twentieth century and showed no sign of stopping into the early 2000s.
As an arranger for Columbia, Conniff produced his first top-five chart hit within a year of joining that label.
The popular "Lara's Theme" earned the Ray Conniff Singers a Grammy Award in 1966 for Best Performance by a Chorus. The audiences experienced the sensation of three channel stereo being transmitted throughout the concert hall with the aid of an elaborate stereo sound system. To me, it has been unknown so far.
He also played to great acclaim at the Sahara-Tahoe Hotel in Lake Tahoe and the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. This show is a perfect musical combination of the best of music of the 50’s- 70’s (when Ray topped the charts and sold millions of albums) updated into the contemporary music of 2024.
Released on a transparent green 12“ LP by Seagull Jazz Records in November 2025:CHRISTMAS WITH CONNIFF.
Visit https://www.therayconniffstory.com and sign up with your email address to receive news and updates from the Ray Conniff Estate. The evening will also include a live performance by students from the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz, paying tribute to Conniff’s enduring impact on modern music. By the end of the decade Conniff's music had migrated into a Latin sound, a decision that insured his ongoing popularity into the 1980s.
From his roots as a trombonist and arranger during the golden age of Swing with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw, to his rise as the creator of the world-renowned “Ray Conniff Sound,” the film traces his evolution as one of America's most beloved musical figures. In 2000, Ray recorded yet another album for Abril Music featuring the music of Roberto Carlos, entitled “Do Ray Para o Rei”.
In September 2001, Ray gave a series of concerts in Brazil again, before he celebrated his 85th birthday on November 6.
Additionally, Conniff has one foster son, Richard J. Bibo, from his marriage to Ann Marie Engberg in the 1940s.
Conniff died on October 12, 2002, in Escondido, California, after falling down and hitting his head. Zhivago soundtrack; the track became a hit single, peaking at number nine on the popular music charts and spawning a platinum-selling album, Somewhere My Love.
Although he never abandoned his musical career, he spent time in introspection, dissecting pop music and putting together his own theories of rhythm and rhyme. Enjoy!Some statements by Ray concerning Johnny Mathis and his recording of “The welfth of Never” are also included in another Wink Martindale interview (36 min).These audio books are available from Amazon worldwide.
August 31, 2025:Visit www.therayconniffstory.com for a new trailer of A LIFE IN RHYTHM - THE RAY CONNIFF STORY or click on the picture on the right or here.
Box 46395, Los Angeles, CA 90046-0395. The set closed with an original DJ Javi remix world premiered that night! In 1959, Disk Jockeys voted The Ray Conniff Orchestra and Singers "the most programmed studio orchestra."
By the early 60's Ray's record sales were booming. Conniff is credited as the first arranger to use voices to double as instruments on his recordings, and in the mid-1960s was the first to stage a live concert using three-channel stereo feeds.
It is written, designed, created, and maintained by Manfred Thönicke in Hamburg, Germany.
Ray Conniff's timeless We Wish You A Merry Christmas has been the holiday soundtrack for generations of families.