11 January 2022

Med School Dropout Eddy Howard Leads Famous Orchestra – Phantom Dancer 11 January 2022

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Med School dropout Eddy Howard, singer, band leader and composer of ‘Careless’ (his theme song), ‘If I Knew Then’, ‘My Last Goodbye’, and ‘A Million Years Ago’, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist.

LISTEN to this week’s Phantom Dancer mix (online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 11 January) and two years of Phantom Dancer mixes online at, at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

I’m Greg Poppleton, The Phantom Dancer producer and presenter every week on 107.3 2SER radio Sydney since 1985.

Eddy Howard singing with Dick Jurgens Orchestra. How different is the radio transcription of Ragtime Cowboy Joe (19120 played on this week’s Phantom Dancer to this 1939 commercial waxing…

TROMBONE THEN SINGER

Edy Howard studied medicine at Stanford University before dropping out to become a singer of romantic ballads on Los Angeles radio. Later he sang with bands led by Ben Bernie and Dick Jurgens.

He first auditioned for, and then joined the Jurgens Orchestra, as a trombonist. With a limited knowledge of music, he committed the audition charts to memory and got the job.

By the time Jurgens discovered that Howard had not enough sight-reading skills to hold down the trombone chair, he had also discovered Howard’s ability as a vocalist. Jurgens hired someone else to play trombone. He gave Eddy Howard a guitar and made him band vocalist.

Jurgens said that it didn’t matter how well Howard played guitar, his vocals made the band.

Eddy Howard singing with his vocal trio and Orchestra in 1949…

ORCHESTRA

In 1939, Howard started his own band, and he was the regular vocalist on It Can Be Done, Edgar A. Guest‘s 1941 radio programme on the Blue Network, from Wednesday to Friday.

The first No. 1 single for Howard and his Orchestra, “To Each His Own“, spent five non-consecutive weeks at the top of the U.S. pop chart in 1946. The song was a tie-in with the 1946 Paramount film, To Each His Own, which brought Academy Awards for Olivia de Havilland and screenwriter Charles Brackett. The recording by Howard was released by Majestic Records and reached the Billboard chart on July 11, 1946, spending a total of 19 weeks on the chart. It sold over two million copies by 1957 and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.

Howard’s orchestra was heard on The Gay Mrs. Featherstone on NBC (April 18 – October 10, 1945) and on NBC’s The Sheaffer Parade, sponsored by Sheaffer Pens (September 14, 1947 – September 5, 1948).

In 1949, Howard signed to Mercury Records. His popularity continued into the 1950s with tracks such as “Maybe It’s Because”, and “(It’s No) Sin“, which became Howard’s second No. 1 tune, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Howard’s last hit was “The Teen-Ager’s Waltz”, which peaked at No. 90 on the Billboard Top 100 chart in 1955.

In 1952–1953 he was heard on CBS on Thursday nights at 10:45pm, with further broadcasts on Tuesdays at 10pm in 1955–1956. The rise of rock music led to a decline in Howard’s popularity.

In a change of roles, Howard was the host on Just for You, an hour-long variety program on NBC in 1954. The staff orchestra of WMAQ Chicago provided the music.

Howard’s star rose again during the 1960s, as part of the revival of interest in Big Band music and old-time radio.

He went into semi-retirement and his some-time saxophonist, vocalist-bandleader Norman Lee, procured the rights to use the Eddy Howard Orchestra name and the band’s arrangements. Lee and the Orchestra became a dance-band staple throughout the U.S. midwest. Based out of Wichita, Kansas, they toured extensively and recorded on their own label, Marian Records.

By the late 1960s, Lee dropped the Eddy Howard name and led the orchestra under his own name, though several Howard standards remained featured in their repertoire. The organization dissolved in the wake of the murder of Lee and his wife by one of the band’s former trumpet players on 6 December 1978.

Here’s Eddy Howard’s theme, which he co-wrote with Dick Jurgens…

11 JANUARY PLAY LIST