Billy May
Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for The Green Hornet (1966), The Mod Squad (1968), Batman (with Batgirl theme, 1967), and Naked City (1960). He collaborated on films such as Pennies from Heaven (1981), and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return, among others. May wrote arrangements for many top singers, including Frank Sinatra, Yma Sumac, Nat King Cole, Anita O'Day, Peggy Lee, Vic Damone, Bobby Darin, Johnny Mercer, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Jack Jones, Bing Crosby, Sandler and Young, Nancy Wilson, Rosemary Clooney, The Andrews Sisters and Ella Mae Morse. He also collaborated with satirist Stan Freberg on several classic 1950s and 1960s comedy music albums. As a trumpet player in the 1940s Big Band era, May recorded such songs as "Measure for Measure", "Long Tall Mama", and "Boom Shot", with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, and "The Wrong Idea", "Lumby", and "Wings Over Manhattan" with Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra. With his own band, he had a hit single, "Charmaine". In the 1950s he released several successful albums of his unique orchestral arrangements and compositions, including Sorta-May and Sorta-Dixie. |
Birth and Death Data: Born November 10, 1916 (Pittsburgh), Died January 22, 2004 (San Juan Capistrano)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1939 - 1959
Roles Represented in DAHR: trumpet, arranger, leader, composer, songwriter, vocalist
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 151-165 of 165 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | D6VB-2085 | 10-in. | 7/2/1946 | You? So it's you! | Four King Sisters | Female vocal quartet, with jazz/dance band | leader | |
Victor | D6VB-2086 | 10-in. | 7/2/1946 | The coffee song (they've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil) | Billy May Orchestra ; Four King Sisters | Female vocal quartet, with jazz/dance band | leader | |
Victor | D6VB-2087 | 10-in. | 7/2/1946 | My honey's kiss | Four King Sisters | Female vocal quartet, with jazz/dance band | leader | |
Victor | D6VB-2088 | 10-in. | 7/2/1946 | Stone cold dead in the market (he had it coming) | Billy May Orchestra ; Four King Sisters | Female vocal quartet, with jazz/dance band | leader | |
Victor | D7VB-1346 | 10-in. | 9/13/1947 | I met my baby in Macy's | Gordon Polk ; Tommy Dorsey Orchestra | Male vocal solo, with jazz/dance band | songwriter | |
Decca | L 3091 | 10-in. | 7/13/1942 | Anchors aweigh | Bob Crosby Orchestra | arranger | ||
Decca | L 3092 | 10-in. | 7/13/1942 | Over there | Bob Crosby Orchestra | arranger | ||
Decca | L 4777 | 12/29/1947 | Fightin' love | Hoagy Carmichael ; Cass Daley | leader | |||
Decca | L 4778 | 12/29/1947 | Grandma Teeter-Totter | Hoagy Carmichael ; Cass Daley | leader | |||
Decca | L 6597 | 1/17/1952 | I'll always be following you | Sonny Burke Orchestra | arranger | |||
Decca | L 6598 | 1/17/1952 | I wanna love you | Sonny Burke Orchestra | arranger | |||
Decca | L 6599 | 1/17/1952 | [Unknown title(s)] | Sonny Burke Orchestra | arranger | |||
Decca | L 6600 | 1/17/1952 | (Me with) Mambo on my mind | Sonny Burke Orchestra | arranger | |||
Decca | L 6605 | 1/17/1952 | Blacksmith blues | Sonny Burke Orchestra | arranger | |||
Decca | L 11340 | 1/21/1959 | Lean baby-3 | Les Brown and his Band of Renown | arranger |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "May, Billy," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/104862.
May, Billy. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/104862.
"May, Billy." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Billy May
Discogs: Billy May
Allmusic: Billy May
Grove: Billy May
IMDb: Billy May
Britannica: Billy May
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: May, Billy - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85072634
Wikidata: Billy May - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q713273
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/112757306
MusicBrainz: Billy May - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/5146db52-8ac5-44e9-a89a-affdb76bbb0c
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