Editing Sammy Kaye

{{Short description|American bandleader and songwriter (1910–1987)}}

{{More citations needed|date=September 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Sammy Kaye
| image               = Sammy Kaye 1952.JPG
| alt                 = Sammy Kaye (1952)
| caption             = Kaye in 1952
| image_size          = 
| landscape           = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| background          = non_performing_personnel
| birth_name          = Samuel Zarnocay, Jr.
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1910|3|13|mf=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Lakewood, Ohio|Lakewood]], [[Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1987|6|2|1910|3|13|mf=y}}
| death_place         = [[Ridgewood, New Jersey]], U.S.
| genre               = [[Big band]], [[Swing music|swing]], [[jazz]]
| occupation          = Musician, bandleader
| instrument          = Saxophone, clarinet
| years_active        = 
| label               = [[Vocalion Records|Vocalion]], [[RCA Victor]], [[Columbia Records|Columbia]], [[Bell Records|Bell]], [[Decca Records|Decca]]
| associated_acts     =
| website             = {{URL|www.sammykayeorchestra.com/}}
}}

'''Sammy Kaye''' (born '''Samuel Zarnocay Jr.'''; March 13, 1910 &ndash; June 2, 1987) was an American bandleader and songwriter,<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=228}}</ref> whose tag line, "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the [[Big Band]] Era.<ref name="Larkin50"/> The expression springs from his first hit single in 1937, "[[Sammy Kaye discography#Singles|Swing and Sway]]" (U.S. no. 15). He was the first to record and release the standard "[[Blueberry Hill]]" in 1940. During World War II, he co-wrote and recorded the anthemic "[[Remember Pearl Harbor (song)|Remember Pearl Harbor]]" (U.S. No. 3). He was the first to record and release the no. 1 song "[[Daddy (Sammy Kaye song)|Daddy]]" in 1941.<ref>[https://secondhandsongs.com/work/60718/versions#nav-entity First to record Daddy. Sammy Kaye. Second Hand Songs. Retrieved 8 October 2023.]</ref> His signature tune was "[[Harbor Lights (song)|Harbor Lights]]", a number-one hit in 1950.

==Biography==
Kaye, born in [[Lakewood, Ohio]], United States,<ref name="Larkin50"/> graduated from [[Rocky River High School (Ohio)|Rocky River High School]] in [[Rocky River, Ohio]].<ref>Bona, Marc (February 12, 2012) [http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/02/sammy_kaye_your_2_pm_buckeye_b.html "Sammy Kaye: Your 2 p.m. Buckeye Bits A&E trivia"] [[The Plain Dealer]]</ref> At [[Ohio University]] in [[Athens, Ohio]] he was a member of [[Theta Chi]] fraternity. Kaye could play the saxophone and the clarinet, but he never featured himself as a soloist on either instrument.

A leader of one of the so-called "Sweet" bands of the Big Band Era, he made a large number of [[Gramophone record|records]] for [[Vocalion Records]], [[RCA Victor]], [[Columbia Records]], [[Bell Records]], and the American [[Decca Records|Decca]] [[record label]]. He was also a hit on radio. Kaye was known for an audience participation gimmick called "So You Want to Lead a Band?" where audience members would be called onto stage in an attempt to conduct the orchestra, with the possibility of winning batons.<ref name="Larkin50"/> Kaye was also known for his use of "singing of song titles", which was emulated by [[Kay Kyser]] and [[Blue Barron]].

He was the first to record and release "[[Blueberry Hill]]" in 1941, a song which became a standard in several genres, including pop, jazz, Big Band, Swing, and rock and roll.

He was also the first to record and release the classic song "[[Daddy (Sammy Kaye song)|Daddy]]" in 1941, which hit no. 1 and which was recorded by other bands and singers.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941, Kaye wrote the music and Don Reid wrote the words to "[[Remember Pearl Harbor (song)|Remember Pearl Harbor]]", the tune of which was based on Ohio University's "Alma Mater". On December 17, 1941, RCA Victor recorded the song, with Sammy Kaye's Swing and Sway Band and The Glee Club. The 78 single was released in 1942, reaching no. 3 on the charts.

By 1955, Kaye was also featured five times a week on several national radio networks through the [[RCA Thesaurus]] transcription service.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BRwEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22RCA+Thesaurus%22&pg=PA27 The Billboard - Music Radio - "New Features Launch 20th Thesaurus Year" 7 May 1955 p. 27 on Google Books.cm]</ref>

His band members included [[Ralph Flanagan]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> Singers included [[Don Cornell]] (not related to Dale Cornell), Billy Williams (the [[country music]] singer with the Pecos River Rogues), [[Tommy Ryan]], Gary Willner, [[Barry Frank]], Tony Russo, and [[Nancy Norman]]. All members of the band sometimes sang backing vocals in various combination as the "Kaydets". Although his musicians were always competent, the jazz critic [[George T. Simon]] described them as "magnificently trained and exceedingly unoriginal".<ref name="Larkin50"/>

==Television ==
Kaye had the following shows on network television:
*''The Sammy Kaye Show'' on [[CBS Television]] (1951–52)
*''The Sammy Kaye Show'' on [[NBC television|NBC Television]] (summer 1953)
*''[[So You Want to Lead a Band]]'' on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC Television]] (1954–55)
*''Sammy Kaye's Music From Manhattan'' on ABC (1958–59)<ref>Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', p. 770</ref>

==Death ==
Kaye died at Valley Hospital in [[Ridgewood, New Jersey]]. His body was returned to Lakewood, Ohio and after a Mass at St. Christopher Catholic Church in Rocky River, he was buried in the family plot next to his parents at Lakewood Park Cemetery. Prior to his death in 1987, Sammy Kaye left his orchestra to Roger Thorpe of New Paltz, New York.<ref name="Larkin50"/> Thorpe, an accomplished music professor at SUNY Dutchess and director of the Dutchess Jazz Ensemble, knew Sammy from over the years. Thorpe operates the orchestra to this day.

==In popular culture==
*In October 1939, Kaye's "sweet band" sound was satirized by [[Charlie Barnet]] and his Orchestra with the song "The Wrong Idea (Swing and Sweat with Charlie Barnet)" written by Charlie Barnet and [[Billy May]].

== Discography ==
{{main|Sammy Kaye discography}}

==Compositions==
Sammy Kaye wrote or co-wrote the following songs: "[[Remember Pearl Harbor (song)|Remember Pearl Harbor]]" (U.S. No. 3),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Sammy-Kaye-Remember-Pearl-Harbor-Dear-Mom/release/4249533|title=Sammy Kaye - Remember Pearl Harbor / Dear Mom|website=Discogs.com|date=2 January 1942 |access-date=October 25, 2019}}</ref> "Until Tomorrow (Goodnight, My Love)" (U.S. No. 10),<ref name="Larkin50"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.45worlds.com/78rpm/record/27262|title=78 Record: Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye - The Sidewalk Serenade (1941)|website=45worlds.com|access-date=October 25, 2019}}</ref> "Belmont Boogie", "Kaye's Melody", "Wanderin'" (U.S. No. 11), "I Gotta See a Dream About a Girl",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uz8hAQAAIAAJ&q=I+Gotta+See+A+Dream+About+a+Girl+sammy+kaye&pg=PA2329|title=Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series|page=2329|date=October 25, 1968|via=Google Books}}</ref> "I Miss Your Kiss"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Swing-And-Sway-With-Sammy-Kaye-The-More-I-See-You-I-Miss-Your-Kiss/master/1182069|title=Swing And Sway With Sammy Kaye* - The More I See You / I Miss Your Kiss|website=Discogs.com|access-date=October 25, 2019}}</ref> and "Bottoms Up (Let's Have a Ball)" with [[Sunny Skylar]], "The Midnight Ride", and "Hawaiian Sunset".<ref name="Larkin50"/> "I Miss Your Kiss" was released as a U.S. War Department [[V-Disc]] in May, 1945 as 433A during World War II for American troops overseas.

==Filmography==
* ''[[Song of the Open Road]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Iceland (film)|Iceland]]'' (1942)

==Legacy==
Kaye was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1992, and for his contribution to the recording industry has a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]].

==See also==
*"[[Daddy (Sammy Kaye song)]]"

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|0443387}}
*[http://www.sammykayeorchestra.com Official Website]
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/100040 Sammy Kaye recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
{{Sammy Kaye}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Sammy}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
[[Category:American jazz bandleaders]]
[[Category:American male songwriters]]
[[Category:American big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:RCA Victor artists]]
[[Category:Decca Records artists]]
[[Category:Vocalion Records artists]]
[[Category:Musicians from Lakewood, Ohio]]
[[Category:Ohio University alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Ohio]]
[[Category:Burials at Lakewood Park Cemetery]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:Rocky River High School (Ohio) alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]