BILLY VAUGHN
Born:
Died:
Genres:
Easy Listening Music, Orchestral Easy Listening Music, Holiday Music
Decades Active:
1950's|1960's
Billy
Vaughn was one of the most popular orchestra leaders and pop music arrangers of
the '50s and early '60s. In fact, he had more pop hits than any other orchestra
leader during the rock roll era. Vaughn was also the musical
director for many of the hitmakers on Dot Records,
including Pat Boone, the Fontane Sisters, and Gale
Storm. As a pop music arranger, his most distinctive feature was his
clean, non-offensive mainstream adaptations of rock roll and RB hits. Vaughn
was also a recording artist, and he cut a number of
albums of easy listening, instrumental music that were very popular throughout
the '60s.
Vaughn began his professional music
career in 1952, forming the vocal quartet the Hilltoppers
with Don McGuire, Jimmy Sacca, and
Vaughn was responsible for most of
Dot's biggest hits of the '50s, as he re-arranged popular rock roll and RB
songs for White, mainstream groups. His first success was with the Fontane Sisters, who sang with his orchestra on all their
singles, including their 1954 breakthrough hit "Hearts of Stone."
However, Dot's biggest success was Pat Boone, who had a series of hits with
Vaughn's cleaned-up arrangements of rock roll songs.
At the same time he was leading the
pop vocal division of Dot, Billy Vaughn was recording his own instrumental
records, which frequently were also covers of RB and country songs. Beginning
with 1954's "Melody of Love," Vaughn had a string of easy listening
Though he was the most successful
orchestra leader of the rock roll era, he wasn't able to sustain an audience in
the late '60s. Vaughn released his last album in 1970 and quietly retired.