biography
| name: |
Green, Johnny
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popular name of John W Green
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1908–89)
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| biography:
| Composer, arranger, bandleader, and pianist, born in New York City, New York, USA. Dedicated to music from the time he saw a band concert at age three, he began studying piano when five, and by 13 knew the basics of composition and orchestration. He enrolled at Harvard (aged 15) and while there began his career as an orchestra leader and composer. His ‘Coquette’ (1927), words by Gus Kahn, was a hit even before he took his BA (1928). He took a job in his uncle's brokerage firm for a time (1928) and then left to dedicate himself to music, working as a music arranger for films, an orchestra conductor, and piano accompanist. From the 1930s he collaborated with such lyricists as E Y Harburg and Edward Heyman on many standards including ‘Body and Soul’ (1930). He continued to conduct orchestras on tours and on radio, and joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1942–58), first as a composer-conductor-arranger, later as music director. He was in charge of several successful MGM film musicals, winning Oscars for Easter Parade (1948) and An American in Paris (1951). A serious musician, he also composed and conducted orchestral music for the concert stage and films, conducted many symphony orchestras, and was lecturer and artist-in-residence at Harvard (1979, 1981). |
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