Nelson Riddle

Stars

Arranger | Composer | Conductor Born June 1, 1921 in Hackensack, NJ

Nelson Riddle was a composer-conductor famed for his lush arrangements of songs for singers such as Judy Garland, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, and for his "Theme From Route 66."

In 1974, Riddle won an Oscar for music adaptation for the score of the film "The Great Gatsby," based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. He also won three Grammys, the first in 1958 for "Cross-Country Suite," and the other two for his work on Linda Ronstadt albums.

Although he became a staff arranger for NBC in Hollywood in the late 1940s and music director of Capitol Records during the 1950s, he first became prominent during the 1950s from his freelance arranging-conducting on record sessions, especially for Sinatra and Cole.

Among the most famous works he arranged was Cole's ballad single, "Mona Lisa," and Sinatra's 1958 album, "Only the Lonely."

He composed the scores for movies such as "St. Louis Blues" (1958); "Come Blow Your Horn" (1962); "Paint Your Wagon" (1969) and "The Great Gatsby" (1974).

Riddle was the arranger-conductor of Ronstadt's "What's New" and "Lush Life" albums of richly orchestrated old standards.

— Penelope McMillan in the Los Angeles Times Oct. 7, 1985

Related

• Nelson Riddle, Composer and Arranger for Top Stars, Dies
• Riddle: A Master At His Craft

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