Al Ham

Albert W. Ham (1925–2001) was an American composer and jingle writer. He was notable as the composer of the Move Closer to Your World music package used since the 1970s on WPVI-TV's Action News broadcasts in Philadelphia, as well as on many other newscasts in the United States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was also notable as creator of the adult standards radio format Music of Your Life.

Ham began as bass player for Artie Shaw when he was 17. While attending Amherst College after WWII, Ham arranged and played bass for the Tony Pastor Orchestra when the featured singers were Rosemary Clooney and her sister Betty. When Tex Beneke re-formed the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Ham joined as arranger and bass player, working with Henry Mancini, then on staff as arranger. While working for Beneke he met and married Mary Mayo, who was singing with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

After the birth of their daughter Lorri, Ham and his wife moved to New York in 1956 where he worked at Columbia Records. He was named director of special A&R projects under Mitch Miller and produced records for such artists as The Ray Conniff Singers, The Ray Conniff Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Percy Faith, Jerry Vale, Johnny Mathis, Johnny Ray, Leslie Uggams, Kitty Callen, Guy Mitchell, The Kirby Stone Four, Tony Bennett, the Count Basie Orchestra, Frankie Laine, Jimmy Dean, The Four Lads, and Oscar Brown Jr. He was also recording director for original cast albums, and produced LPs of such Broadway hits as West Side Story, Most Happy Fella, Gypsy, House of Flowers, and Bells are Ringing.

During his time as a producer at Columbia, Ham brought more to the studio than his knowledge of music and his natural intuition for recognizing hit material. He brought an electronic knowledge that resulted in many technical studio improvements and a "Spatial" Sound that he put to use when he helped to create the first Stereo LPs issued by Columbia. He worked with Dr. Peter Goldmark, creator of the Long - Playing record, on special circuit projects that broke new ground for stereo, multi - track recordings and broadcast signal processing.

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