Bert Kaempfert

Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert; 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-orientated records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including "Strangers in the Night", "Danke Schoen", "Moon over Naples" and "A Swingin' Safari". In 1961, Kaempfert was the first to produce professional music recordings by the Beatles.

Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany, where he received his lifelong nickname, Fips, and studied at the Hamburg School of Music. A multi-instrumentalist who played accordion, piano, clarinet, and other instruments, he was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra, before serving as a bandsman in the German Navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band and toured with them, following that by working as an arranger and producer, making hit records with Freddy Quinn and Ivo Robić. Kaempfert met his future wife, Hannelore, in 1945. They married a year later, on 14 August 1946. They had two daughters, Marion and Doris.

Kaempfert's first hit with his orchestra was "Wonderland by Night". Recorded in July 1959, the song could not get released in Germany, so Kaempfert took the track to Decca Records in New York, which released it in the United States in the fall of 1960. With its haunting solo trumpet by Charles Tabor, muted brass, and lush strings, the single topped the American pop charts and turned Bert Kaempfert and Orchestra into international stars. Over the next few years, he revived such pop tunes as "Tenderly", "Red Roses for a Blue Lady", "Three O'Clock in the Morning", and "Bye Bye Blues", as well as composing pieces of his own, including "Spanish Eyes" (a.k.a. "Moon Over Naples"), "Danke Schoen", and "Wooden Heart", which were recorded by, respectively, Al Martino, Wayne Newton, and Elvis Presley. For Kaempfert, little brought him more personal satisfaction than Nat King Cole recording his "L-O-V-E".

Kaempfert's orchestra made extensive use of horns. A couple of numbers that featured brass prominently, "Magic Trumpet" and "The Mexican Shuffle", were played by both Kaempfert's orchestra and by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. The Brass covered "Magic Trumpet", and Kaempfert returned the favor by covering Brass compadre Sol Lake's number "The Mexican Shuffle". The latter tune evolved into a TV ad, The Teaberry Shuffle.

In his capacity as record producer, Kaempfert played a part in the rise of the Beatles. In 1961, he hired them to back Tony Sheridan on an album called My Bonnie. Sheridan had been performing in Hamburg, and needed to recruit a band to play behind him on the proposed tracks. Kaempfert auditioned and signed the Beatles, and recorded two tracks with them during his sessions for Sheridan: "Ain't She Sweet" (sung by rhythm guitarist John Lennon) and "Cry for a Shadow" (an instrumental written by Lennon and lead guitarist George Harrison). The album and its singles, released by Polydor Records, were the Beatles' first commercially released recordings.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.