Jerry Gray

American swing violinist, arranger, bandleader and composer. Born July 03, 1915 in East Boston, Massachusetts. Died August 10, 1976 age of 61 in Dallas, Texas. Married to actress/singer Joan Barton from 1957 until his death in 1976. Brother of accordionist/singer Tony Gray (2). After Gray turned 18, he officially performed with his own bands in Boston-Clubs. In 1936 He Joined Artie Shaw's "New Music Orchestra" as a violinist, but also studied arranging with Shaw. He did so well that he wrote most of the groups arrangements one year later. In November 1939 he joined Glenn Miller as his staff arranger. He charted four times as a songwriter and more as an arranger. His top songwriting credit was for the #1 song "A String of Pearls" by The Glenn Miller Orchestra, which came in 1942. He also had two other top ten singles with "Pennsylvania 6-5000" #5 in 1940 (co-written by Carl Sigman) and "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Harlem" #3 in 1941 (co-written by Ben Smith, Leonard Ware & Buddy Feyne), both by The Glenn Miller Orchestra. By the 1960's he settled in Dallas, where he lead the Fairmont Hotel band into the 1970s.