Percy Faith

Percy Faith was a highly influential Canadian-American musician.

He worked as a bandleader, composer, orchestrator, and conductor. Faith is best known for creating lush musical arrangements. These arrangements were often for instrumental ballads and Christmas standards. He played a major role in popularizing the easy listening format. This style is also frequently called mood music. His work became a staple of American popular music throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Faith changed the way popular music was organized. In the 1940s, most popular music relied heavily on brass instruments. These instruments can sound very loud and sharp. Faith decided to rethink these orchestration techniques. He used large string sections to soften the sound. These strings helped to fill out the music. This created a smoother and more pleasant listening experience. Later in his career, he also began using a chorus.

Most of his recordings featured an all-female chorus. However, he used a mixed chorus on the albums Leaving on a Jet Plane and I Think I Love You.

His musical journey began in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was the oldest of eight children in a Jewish family. His parents were named Abraham and Minnie Faith. As a child, he studied both the piano and the violin. He performed in theaters and at Massey Hall. A significant event changed his career path. A fire caused bad burns to his hands. Because of this, he turned his focus toward conducting. He moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1940 to continue his work.

Faith was a master of the radio era. He worked with several major broadcasting networks. He was a regular on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1933 to 1940. In the United States, he led orchestras for various radio programs. These included The Carnation Contented Hour on NBC. He also led orchestras for The Coca-Cola Hour on the MBS and CBS networks. Between 1955 and 1957, he led The Woolworth Hour on CBS. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1945.

His recording career was exceptionally successful, especially with Columbia Records. He worked under Mitch Miller to produce dozens of albums. Faith also provided arrangements for famous pop singers. These included Tony Bennett, Doris Day, and Johnny Mathis. He co-wrote the number-one single "My Heart Cries for You" with Carl Sigman for Guy Mitchell. Faith achieved a rare feat in music history. He is one of only three artists to have the best-selling single of the year twice. The other two artists were Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

Several of his recordings achieved massive global success. "Delicado" was a number-one hit in 1952. In 1953, "The Song from Moulin Rouge" also reached number one. His 1959 recording, "Theme from A Summer Place," won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961. This song helped him achieve his second best-selling single of the year. He also found great fame in Sweden. His work "Mucho Gusto" became the theme for sports broadcasts on Sveriges Radio.

Faith's music connected different generations of listeners. In the early 1960s, he recorded orchestral versions of rock and pop hits. His album Themes for Young Lovers was a massive seller. This album introduced rock compositions to middle-aged audiences. It also introduced his specific sound to younger listeners. He was also a talented film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for the musical feature Love Me or Leave Me. He also composed the theme for the NBC series The Virginian.

Even as musical tastes changed, Faith continued to experiment. When harder rock music arrived in the 1970s, his elegant style became less popular. However, he did not stop creating new music. He released albums featuring country music and disco-oriented arrangements. His very last recording was a disco reworking of his famous hit. It was titled "Summer Place '76." This posthumous recording became a minor hit. He died of cancer in Encino, California, in 1976.