Ray Bloch
| Ray Bloch | |
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Bloch in 1951
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raymond A. Bloch |
| Born | August 3, 1902 Alsace-Lorraine |
| Died | March 29, 1982 (aged 79) Miami, Florida |
| Occupation(s) | composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist, and arranger |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Labels | Signature Records |
| Associated acts | Ray Bloch Orchestra |
| Website | raybloch |
Raymond A. (Ray) Bloch (August 3, 1902 – March 29, 1982) was a European-American composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist, author and arranger. He is best remembered as the arranger and orchestra conductor for The Ed Sullivan Show during its entire run from 1948 to 1971.
Ray Bloch was born in Alsace-Lorraine and immigrated to the United States with his parents as an infant. His father was a chef.
During the 1920s, he performed with small groups on piano and also conducted ballroom bands. Later in the decade he began appearing as a pianist on radio stations. He began working as an arranger and composer for the Four Eton Boys in the early 1930s, and followed that as a conductor for choral groups. In 1939 he joined the CBS radio variety show Johnny Presents as choral director and was promoted to orchestra conductor. This was the beginning of a long and successful career in "conducting, coaching, orchestrating, and choral directing" on radio, television, and albums.
Bloch and his orchestra were featured on numerous radio variety shows of the late-1930s and 1940s. These included: Johnny Presents (1939-1946),The Gay Nineties Revue (CBS, 1939-1944),Let Yourself Go (CBS, 1944-1945),The Continental Celebrity Club (1945-1946),The Milton Berle Show (NBC, 1948-1949), and The Mary Small Revue (1945). From 1943 to 1956 Bloch and his orchestra also performed on Here's to Romance, a weekly musical variety show broadcast by the American Forces Network. In 1951 Bloch hosted his own show, The Bloch Party, a 60-minute variety show on CBS Radio featuring Judy Lynn, the Russ Emery Chorus, and the Ray Bloch Orchestra.
The orchestra was a fixture on several game shows, including Take It or Leave It (CBS, 1940-1947).Quick as a Flash (1944–1949) – during which "clues were elaborately dramatized or were musically illustrated by Ray Bloch's orchestra"– and Sing It Again (1948–1951). Bloch also worked on Philip Morris Playhouse (CBS, 1939–1943), and in several Orson Welles drama presentations.
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