RAY CONNIFF - THE SOUND OF SILENCE

SOUND OF SILENCE

RAY CONNIFF, THE SINGERS

SONGWRITER: PAUL SIMON

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: HONEY

LABEL: CBS

GENRE: INSTRUMENTAL

YEAR: 1968

 

       Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.

            In 1959, Conniff started The Ray Conniff Singers (12 women and 13 men, comprising mainly the Ron Hicklin Singers) and released the album It's the Talk of the Town. This group brought him his biggest hit: Somewhere My Love (1966). The album's title track's lyrics were sung to the music of "Lara's Theme" from the film Doctor Zhivago, and it became a US top 10 single.

        The album reached the US top 20 and went platinum, and Conniff won a Grammy. The single and album also reached high positions in the international charts (a.o. Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan), while the first of four Christmas albums by the Singers, Christmas with Conniff (1959) was also successful.

         Nearly 50 years after its release, in 2004, Conniff was posthumously awarded a platinum album/CD. Other well-known releases by the Singers included Ray Conniff's Hawaiian Album (1967), featuring the hit song "Pearly Shells," and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), which included Conniff's original composition "Someone", and remakes of such hits as "All I Have to Do is Dream", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", and "Something".

        Musically different highlights in Conniff's career are two albums he produced in cooperation with Billy Butterfield, an old friend from earlier swing days. Conniff Meets Butterfield (1959) featured Butterfield's solo trumpet and a small rhythm group, and Just Kiddin' Around (after a Conniff original composition from the 1940s), released in 1963, which featured additional trombone solos by Ray himself. Both albums are pure light jazz and did not feature any vocals.