Maurice Winnick (28 March 1902 – 26 May 1962) was an
English musician and dance band leader.
b. 28 March 1902, Manchester, Lancashire, England, d. 26
May 1962, England. A child prodigy, Winnick studied violin at the Manchester
College of Music before taking a job in a cinema orchestra, playing for silent
films. While still in his teens, he led a band on a transatlantic liner and
around this time also studied saxophone. In 1928 he formed a small dance band
he took into Manchester’s Plaza and worked with artists such as the male
soprano, Frank Colman.
Winnick moved to Nottingham to take charge of the city’s
Palais band, until then directed by Jan Ralfini but from the early 30s he was
playing in London. He worked at prestigious venues such as the Hammersmith
Palais de Danse, the Carlton Hotel, Ciro’s Club, the Casino Club, the San Marco
Restaurant (where his singer was Sam Costa), and the Mayfair Hotel. With Costa,
he had a popular recording success with ‘A Little Bit Independent’.
Winnick unashamedly modelled his band’s style upon that
of Guy Lombardo. Indeed, he used Lombardo’s charts with the full co-operation
of both Guy and his arranger brother, Carmen Lombardo. Winnick’s theme tune at
this time was ‘The Sweetest Music This Side Of Heaven’, a number from the
Lombardo book the title of which summed up his place in the world of British
dance band music.
Winnick made several broadcasts with his band, including
some shows direct from the San Marco. He occasionally worked on the Continent,
including a summer engagement in 1938 at the Yacht Club in Deauville. The club
was operated by French ex-boxer Georges Carpentier and Winnick’s orchestra
shared the stand with a gypsy band that included guitarist Joseph Reinhardt,
brother of Django Reinhardt. In the spring of 1939 Winnick began another top
London hotel job, this time at Park Lane’s Dorchester Hotel where he took over
from Harry Roy.
During this period, Winnick was employing some of the
best available musical talent, including Ted Heath, trumpeter Bill Shakespeare
and American saxophonist Don Barrigo. For his radio shows, Winnick also hired
top-flight singers, including Al Bowlly and Dorothy Carless. For the Dorchester
job, Winnick had been obliged to cut the band down to 11 players but he chafed
at the restrictions of this and quit after a year. Meanwhile, he had been continuing
a successful recording career, making dance band records for several labels
including Regal, Panachord and Edison Bell Winner. He continued to hire
first-class talent for both playing and backroom skills, notably trombonist Don
Lusher and arranger Robert Farnon.
Winnick and his wife boarding a train, bound for the
coast and then New York, at Waterloo Station, London, January 19th 1949.
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After the war, Winnick disbanded but although his band
leading days were over, he remained in show business, becoming a band
contractor and producer in radio and television. He was behind the hugely
popular BBC radio shows, Twenty Questions, which he imported from America, and
Ignorance Is Bliss. In 1951 he acquired on behalf of the BBC the television
rights for the popular American show, What’s My Line?
In 1954 Winnick was part of the Kemsley-Winnick consortium,
which won the initial ITV weekend contracts for the Midlands and the North of England. But shortly after the award of the contracts, the consortium lost its primary financial backer, Lord Kemsley, resulting in its collapse.
However, Winnick did make it to commercial television in a way, as he produced at least two of their many early game shows: Two for the Money (1956-7) and I've Got a Secret (1956) with regular panellists Jon Pertwee, Catherine Boyle, Dick Bentley and Zoe Gail, both series based on US formats.
which won the initial ITV weekend contracts for the Midlands and the North of England. But shortly after the award of the contracts, the consortium lost its primary financial backer, Lord Kemsley, resulting in its collapse.
However, Winnick did make it to commercial television in a way, as he produced at least two of their many early game shows: Two for the Money (1956-7) and I've Got a Secret (1956) with regular panellists Jon Pertwee, Catherine Boyle, Dick Bentley and Zoe Gail, both series based on US formats.
He died after a long illness 26 May 1962 in Westminster,
London, England, aged 60. (Info mainly from All Music)
1 comment:
For “Maurice Winnick – Sweetest Music This Side Of Heaven” go here:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/x5lfug
1. The Sweetest Music This Side Of Heaven
2. Gypsy Violin
3. Love Is Like A Cigarette
4. Some Other Time
5. I Send My Love With These Roses
6. For Me, For You
7. You Can't Stop Me From Dreaming
8. I Wished On the Moon
9. Misty Island
10. Smooth Sailing
11. Glamorous Night
12. The Simple Things in Life
13. I'd Rather Listen To Your Eyes
14. Love Is A Dancing Thing
15. Roll Up the Carpet
16. Honey Coloured Moon
17. Music Hath Charms
18. A Star Fell Out Of Heaven
19. On Treasure Island
20. Malola
21. Did I Remember?
22. Arm in Arm
23. When You Wish Upon a Star
24. Turn On The Old Music Box
25. Sweetest Memories No. 4
26. Bedtime Medley
Go here for list of vocalists: https://www.discogs.com/Maurice-Winnick-Sweetest-Music-This-Side-Of-Heaven/release/10044426
PLEASE NOTE I inserted the wrong CD front cover in the zip file. The correct one is above in the biography.
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