Norman Luboff (May 14, 1917 - September 22, 1987) was an
American music arranger, music publisher, and choir director.
Norman Luboff was born Norman Kador Luboff in Chicago,
Illinois, the son of Julius Luboff, an insurance salesperson, and Rose (maiden
name unknown). Even though his parents discouraged him from entering the field
of music, Norman was 
happily surrounded with music throughout his childhood and
adolescence, enjoying his family’s amateur vocal harmonizing and his membership
in his high school’s orchestra and choir.
happily surrounded with music throughout his childhood and
adolescence, enjoying his family’s amateur vocal harmonizing and his membership
in his high school’s orchestra and choir.
Foreshadowing events to come, he even
organized a small choir of his teenage peers whom he taught by rote to sing in
four-part harmony. However, he did not consider music as a profession until
1935, after entering Chicago’s Central Y.M.C.A. College (later renamed
Roosevelt University), from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in
music in 1939. He did graduate work with the noted composer Leo Sowerby while
singing and writing for some of the best radio programs in Chicago.
In the mid-1940s, he moved to New York City to continue
his 
career. With a call from Hollywood to be choral director of The Railroad
Hour, a radio weekly starring Gordan McRae, Mr. Luboff entered a period of
enormous artistic growth and accomplishment, including the scoring of many
television programs and more than eighty motion pictures. He also recorded with
America's most noted artists, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford,
and Doris Day.
career. With a call from Hollywood to be choral director of The Railroad
Hour, a radio weekly starring Gordan McRae, Mr. Luboff entered a period of
enormous artistic growth and accomplishment, including the scoring of many
television programs and more than eighty motion pictures. He also recorded with
America's most noted artists, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford,
and Doris Day.
In 1950, he established Walton Music Corporation, to
publish his music. Luboff provided a vehicle for composers in Sweden to have
their works available in the United States, including Egil Hovland and Waldemar
Åhlén. Walton Music exists today as a major choral music publisher under the
guidance of Luboff's widow, Gunilla Marcus-Luboff, a former Swedish television
producer.
The first incarnation of the Norman Luboff Choir was formed during the mid-1950s. The Choir became one of the leading choral groups in the world, recording a wide variety of music on more than seventy-five LPs and touring yearly from 1963 to 1987 with titles including Calypso Holiday, Broadway!, Songs of the Cowboy (which won a Grammy for Best Performance By A Chorus in 1960) and Songs of the Caribbean. Although their recording career came to a halt during the late 1960s, they continued touring until Luboff's death.
As an educator, Mr. Luboff was in much demand, guest
conducting all-state, clinic, and festival choirs of every description in the
United States and abroad. In September of 1987, he died of lung cancer at his
home in Bynum, North Carolina at the age of 70. The Norman Luboff Collection
was donated to the Music Division of the United States Library of Congress in
1993 by his widow.
Although a true professional in the choral world, Norman
Luboff never lost his empathy for the musical layman. Two generations of choral
directors have been profoundly influenced by his work. Millions of people
continue to be magically touched by his wonderful legacy.
