Larry Clinton & Bea Wain

b. 17 August 1909, Brooklyn, New York, USA, d. 2 May 1985, Deltona, Florida, USA. Clinton started as an arranger and worked for the Dorsey Brothers, the Casa Loma Orchestra, Isham Jones, and Tommy Dorsey’s band before forming his own orchestra in 1937. With himself on trumpet, clarinet and trombone, along with the excellent vocalist Bea Wain, he had a string of hits with ‘Cry, Baby, Cry’, ‘Heart And Soul’, ‘Deep Purple’, and ‘My Reverie’, which he adapted from a Claude Debussy theme. Clinton’s many compositions included, ‘Satan Takes A Holiday’, ‘Our Love’, and ‘The Dipsy Doodle’, a chart-topper for Tommy Dorsey. The band, playing both sweet and swing music, broke up in 1941 when Clinton entered the US Army and though they re-formed after the war, they never achieved their previous success. In the early 50s Clinton opted for a career as a music publishing and record executive.