Joe Leahy

American bandleader, arranger, conductor, record producer and trumpeter. Born July 25, 1916 in Boston, Massachusetts. Died September 12, 1974) (aged 58) . He joined the Les Brown Band of Renown at twenty, then the Charlie Barnet band and later the Artie Shaw band, eventually forming his own orchestra for cross-country tours of ballrooms, hotel circuits, college proms and one-nighters. During the years of the war, 1941-1945, Leahy's musical abilities were utilized by the Army. There he headed the Air Force Orchestra of the Air Transport Command, an orchestra of forty men. He did arranging and conducting for concerts, variety acts, and weekly CBS broadcasts for the Air Force. After the war, he signed with CBS as a staff conductor-arranger, and went to work doing script-show music, background music for radio dramas and conducting the Sketch Henderson orchestra. A year after signing with CBS, Joe decided to become a freelance arranger-conductor. In the following six years he wrote orchestrations for a hundred radio programs, including the longstanding favorite "The Breakfast Club" in Chicago. Joe Leahy's name became one of the best known in conductor-arranger circles for his background music. He relocated to Los Angeles in the mid 1950's where he worked for Unique Records (2) and then founded his own production company Record Producers Corporation. Joe moved into the record field in 1954 with the formation of his own company, and the company's first release was another chapter in the Leahy success story. Denise Lor's "If I Give My Heart To You" was an overnight hit. The Leahy arrangement of the recording had such impact on the trade that eighteen versions of the song were on the market within a few short weeks. Leahy followed up with "Unsuspecting Heart" by Terri Stevens, "The Song From Desiree," "Green Fire," and introduced "How Important Can It Be" with Jack Smith, which started the song on its way to the top of the popularity charts. Leahy's flair for spotting potential hits was again demonstrated when Unique released "The Man In A Raincoat" by 14-year old Priscilla Wright, which skyrocketed a young singer and her first recording into stardom and top ten across the nation. He also discovered [a816569], who charted 4 times in the U.S., all with Leahy conducting the orchestra behind her.