Ray Martin (orchestra leader)

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Ray Martin
Birth nameKurt Kohn
Also known asMarshall Ross
Born(1918-10-11)11 October 1918
OriginVienna, Austria
Died7 February 1988(1988-02-07) (aged 69)
Occupation(s)Music director, composer, conductor, orchestra leader
Instrument(s)Violin, piano
Years active1940s–1980s

Ray Martin (Raymond Stuart Martin; born Kurt Kohn and later anglicised his name) (11 October 1918 – 7 February 1988)

popular music through his work with his orchestra during the 1950s. His regular appearances on radio and television kept him in the public spotlight, while his position at EMI Records made him an influential producer at the label. His use of pseudonyms has blurred the path of his career through the years, making his many contributions even harder to keep track of. But his original compositions are what really made him popular; tracks like "Marching Strings" have become stables [sic] of many public and city bands and orchestras since their release".[2]

Career

Raymond Stuart Martin was born as Kurt Kohn into a liberal Jewish family in

British Forces Network
in Hamburg, Germany, and later formed his own orchestra for a programme called Melody from the Sky which had over 500 broadcasts.

Martin became the conductor of the

RCA Victor for Buddy Morrow and his Orchestra, one of the first such collections on record. In that same year he contributed performances to half of the songs (with singer Mimi Hines) on the Christmas album The Merriest of Pops (RCA Victor), the other half being provided by Esquivel
.

Martin composed more than 2,000 works, many of which were recorded for RCA and Polydor.

He returned to the UK in 1972, but was comparatively unproductive.[2] In 1980, he moved to South Africa, where he died after suffering from cancer, aged 69, in Johannesburg.[1]

Selection of his light music titles

  • "Melody from the Sky"
  • "Once upon a Wintertime"
  • "Blue Violins"
  • "Waltzing Bugle Boy"
  • "Airborne"
  • "Ballet of the Bells"
  • "Tango of the Bells"
  • "Marching Strings" (composition credited to Marshall Ross, a pseudonym) – was used as the
    theme tune for BBC school quiz show, Top of the Form
  • "Begorrah"
  • "The Sound of Sight"

Chart singles

References

  1. ^ a b c "Ray Martin". IMDb.com. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d "Biography by Bradley Torreano". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  3. ^ "Dunera Association" (PDF). Duneraassociation.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  4. ^
    ISBN 1-85227-745-9
    .
  5. ^ "28 November 1955 - Evening Standard". Newspapers.com. p. 6. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  6. ISBN 1-904994-10-5
    .

Further reading

External links
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