Freddy Martin

He had hoped that he would earn enough money from his musical work to enter Ohio State University, but instead, he wound up becoming an accomplished musician.It was with Albin's "Hotel Pennsylvania Music" that he made his first recordings for Columbia's Harmony, Velvet Tone, and Clarion 50-cent labels in 1930.As the company was broke and signing no new contracts, the band switched to Brunswick Records after one session and remained with that label till 1938.During his tenure at Brunswick/ARC, half of his recordings were issued on ARC's stable of budget-priced labels (Banner, Conqueror, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, and Vocalion) as well as scores of non-vocal takes issued on ARC's special theater use label, sold only to movie theaters as background music.[1] Martin recorded the piece instrumentally, but soon lyrics were added by Ray Austin, and it was re-recorded as "Tonight We Love"[4] with Clyde Rogers' vocal – becoming his biggest hit.[5] The success of "Tonight We Love" prompted Martin to adopt several other classical themes (of Rachmaninoff, Grieg, and others), which featured the band's pianists Jack Fina, Murray Arnold, and Barclay Allen.[citation needed] Martin employed various people from the music industry for vocal performances, such as singers Merv Griffin, Buddy Clark, Gene Merlino; pianists Sid Appleman and Terry Shand; saxophonists Elmer Feldkamp and Stuart Wade; violinist Eddie Stone, and many others.Martin's popularity as a bandleader led him to Hollywood in the 1940s where he and his band appeared in a handful of films, including Seven Days' Leave (1942), Stage Door Canteen (1943),[1] and Melody Time (1948), among others.Among the other performers on the show were Margaret Whiting, Bob Crosby, Frankie Carle, Buddy Morrow, Art Mooney, and George Shearing.[7] The 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" was recorded by Martin under the alias of "Felix Figueroa and his Orchestra" and was frequently featured on Dr. Demento's syndicated radio show.