Bobby Byrne born 10 October 1918

Bobby Byrne (October 10, 1918 – November 25, 2006) was an American bandleader, trombonist, and music executive. His big band was well regarded, although it never achieved the level of popularity that was expected. He flew aircraft in World War II. Later he became a musical producer for television and for albums credited to other artists.

Bobby was born October 10, 1918 near Columbus, Ohio on a farm to Clarence Byrne and his wife. Both of his parents were musicians. When Bobby was one year old, the family moved to Detroit, where Clarence became a music teacher of high repute. Bobby was musically instructed by his parents, both at home from an early age and at Cass Technical where Bobby was later to attend as a student. In addition to trombone and harp he studied piano, piccolo/flute, cello, and percussion.

Later, the senior Byrne invited Tommy Dorsey to hear the school's band, which was led by Bobby. Mr. Dorsey was impressed enough to start a sequence of positively escalating experiences. He invited the teenager to meet his brother and hear the Dorsey Brothers band perform, and then asked Bobby to accompany the band to hear them play their next one-night stand, and when there, asked him to sit in with the band for several minutes during the performance, taking Tommy's chair. Both Dorsey’s were impressed by his performance. Thus his professional career began early. 

When the Dorsey Brothers split, Byrne joined Jimmy's outfit, and took Tommy Dorsey's place leading the trombone section. By August, Bobby had recorded his first solo with the band, with the hit single "From the Top of Your Head to the Tip of Your Toes." He married his first wife, Pat, in March 1939 two months after having met her in Dallas, Texas.

He formed his own band, based out of Detroit, in November 1939 with the assistance of manager Tommy Rockwell and the backing of Jimmy Dorsey (for whom he continued to record until at least April 1940).

                              

Several top notch signings made this band an instant success, particularly Don Redman as arranger, bassist Abe Siegel, pianist Gabriel Julian, vocalist Dorothy Claire and drummer Shelly Manne.  

Byrne hit the big time in mid-1941, when Michael DeZutter got him a summer spot at the famous Glen Island Casino in New York, preceded by a stint at Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook. Byrnes theme, "Meditation at Moonlight", was composed expressly for him by Peter de Rose and Mitchell Parish. A recording contract with Decca, radio broadcasts and Hollywood followed. A change of arranger, with Sid Brantley replacing Redman,actually suited the changing style of the band. In early 1943, Byrne, an experienced pilot, accepted an Air Force commission and disbanded the orchestra. 

After the war, he put together another short-lived outfit which
included saxophonist Larry Elgart and arranger Charles Albertine. The band was good, but George Simon observed, as he had with Byrne's previous group, that a noticeable amount of tension existed among the sidemen which he put down to the leader's heavy hand in demanding musical perfection and which he thought "was the only apparent reason for the Bobby Byrne band not being one of the country's leading crews". 

In the 1950's, leading a Dixieland-style orchestra, Byrne became musical director for The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956). Byrne stayed busy playing in several studio orchestras s well, playing with Pearl Bailey, Cannonball Adderly, Cootie Williams, Charlie Barnet, Urbie Green and Lionel Hampton between 1952 and 1960. He subsequently appeared on The Lucky Strike Hit Parade, The Milton Berle Show (1958) and (for 11 years) on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1948), before ending his career as a senior executive with Command Records.

Also later in the 1960s, Bobby Byrne recorded two vinyl albums for the Evolution Records label. The latter of these albums was the album "Shades Of Brass", which was released during 1969. This album is notable for inclusion of the Moog synthesiser and also for its up tempo instrumental title track. In the USA, this title track was also released as a single. The title track "Shades Of Brass", also came to the notice of the producers of ABC Television in Australia. From 1969, it was selected and used by the ABC, as its main theme, up until around 1973.  

In the early 1970s Byrne completely left the music industry for the business world, though he occasionally continued to perform. He retired permanently in the late 1980s.

Bobby Byrne died on November 25, 2006, at Green Hills Care Home in Irvine, CA. He was 87. He was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer¹s Disease and died in his sleep after suffering a stroke  the previous week. (Info mainly edited from Wikipedia, IMDB  & AMG)