Ray Anthony

Ray Anthony (born Raymond Antonini; January 20, 1922) is an American retired bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his tenure as a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra, from 1940 to 1941, and later for successfully leading his own big band.

After returning to professional music in 1945 following a stint in the United States Navy, he formed his own orchestra, and penned numerous successful compositions, some of which became chart successes, including "The Bunny Hop", "Thunderbird", "Houseparty Hop", "Trumpet Boogie", "Dream Dancing", "Dream While You Dance", "Dance My Heart", "Let's All Do the Swim", "Big Band Boogie", and "Mr. Anthony's Boogie". He also had a limited professional acting career and frequently appeared in the tabloids during his brief marriage to actress Mamie Van Doren.

Anthony continued to tour around the United States in big bands before retiring in 1998. At the age of 104, he is the last living member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He is listed as the oldest living recorded musician.

Anthony was born to an Italian family in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania, but moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied the trumpet after his father gave him a trumpet on his fifth birthday. As a teenager he was influenced by Harry James, later saying of him: "In my opinion, I think Harry James was the greatest trumpet. He had a complete mastery of the instrument and a conception I admired".

Anthony joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra as an eighteen year-old in 1940, replacing Phil Rommel. Anthony was in the band from 1940 to 1941. He had seen the band live three months before he joined them. He recalled being teased by the other members for being the youngest member: "He (Glenn Miller) was tough but it’s a business. You don’t have much time to do anything but follow the lines". Reportedly, Anthony was constantly fired by Miller due to him repeatedly suggesting new ideas for the band, but was always rehired again as his "skills were so high"; this led to him being nicknamed "Peck's Bad Boy". Ray appeared uncredited in the Glenn Miller movie Sun Valley Serenade.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.