Paul Whiteman

Pal Whiteman died at the age of 77 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. His latest venture is a role in a BBC film, Mrs Henderson Presents, starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. Production started late September 2004 with Will playing the character of 'Bertie'. After he disbanded his Orchestra, in the 1940s and 1950s Whiteman worked as a music director for the ABC Radio Network. His largely self-penned, five times platinum second album Friday's Child has also gained awards and critical acclaim. In 1931, Whiteman married motion picture actress Margaret Livingston. He went on to win the Brits Best Newcomer Award and a plethora of other awards, including most recently "Best Artist" in the "Digital Music Awards" October 2004. Bing Crosby got his start singing with the Whiteman Orchestra. Will subsequently made headlines by revealing he was homosexual.

While Whiteman gave them very limited chances to improvise, he paid them top salaries and encouraged them to make small band jam recordings on the side. It went on to sell over 1.4 million copies and in the official list of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK issued later that year, it appeared 12th. Whiteman appreciated jazz musicians and hired many of the best white jazz men for his band, including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Steve Brown, Gussie Mueller, Jack Teagarden, and Bunny Berigan. This became the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history selling 300,000 copies on its day of release. Whiteman commissioned George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, which was premiered by Whiteman's Orchestra with Gershwin at the piano in 1924. His first single was a double A-side featuring Westlife's song "Evergreen" and "Anything Is Possible", a new song written for the winner of the show by Cathy Dennis. Whiteman claimed that he was "making a lady out of jazz". Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't a surprise winner when beating Gareth Gates in the final show; in fact, he gained the most votes nearly every week throughout the entire finals.

While it is easy to sneer at Whiteman in retrospect, his notions were critically popular and commercially successful at the time, and Whiteman's music was often the first jazz of any form that some people heard. William (Will) Robert Young (born January 20, 1979), British singer, is best known for winning the British version of Pop Idol in 2002. While today most fans of jazz consider improvisation to be essential to the musical style, Whiteman thought it sloppy and uncouth, and thought the music could be improved by eliminating it, except occasionally in elaborate arrangements. Others reject thses notions, and regard Whiteman's music as an interesting development in jazz history. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Whiteman billed himself as The King of Jazz (see: Jazz royalty), though much of what his band played hasn't been considered "true" jazz by later generations.

In the late 1920s he recorded for Columbia Records. Whiteman's became the most popular band leader of the decade. In 1920 he moved his band to New York City where they started making recordings for Victor Records which propelled Whiteman and his band to national prominence. He started out as a classical violinist and violist, then started leading a jazz-influenced dance band which became locally popular in San Francisco, California in 1918.

Whiteman was born in Denver, Colorado. Paul Whiteman (March 28, 1890 - December 29, 1967) was a popular United States orchestral leader.