Leonard George Hayton was an American musician, composer, conductor and arranger.
21 Facts About Lennie Hayton
2.
Lennie Hayton's trademark was a captain's hat, which he always wore at a rakish angle.
3.
Lennie Hayton was born in New York City, New York, to a Jewish family.
4.
Lennie Hayton's parents disliked "Jazz" and it was not until Hayton was 16 that he really discovered it.
5.
Lennie Hayton left high school to become pianist with the Broadway Hotel Orchestra of Cass Hagen, a boyhood friend.
6.
Lennie Hayton became friendly with Bing Crosby, then a member of The Rhythm Boys.
7.
Lennie Hayton then joined the Charles Previn Orchestra which had a weekly assignment on radio in the Camel Pleasure Hour.
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Bing Crosby George Harrison Frankie Trumbauer Joe Venuti Eddie Lang Artie Shaw Lena Horne 8.
In Chicago in May 1932, Lennie Hayton led an orchestra for his first recordings with the singer.
9.
In September 1932, Crosby again went on tour with Lennie Hayton accompanying him on piano.
10.
In January 1933, Lennie Hayton became the musical director for the Chesterfield radio series "Music That Satisfies" which again featured Crosby and ran for 13 weeks.
11.
Lennie Hayton continued to work with Crosby on radio and record for a while but in 1940 he became a musical director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and guided it through its prime years as foremost producer of movie musicals.
12.
Lennie Hayton won the Academy Award for music for On the Town with Roger Edens in 1950.
13.
Lennie Hayton arranged the music for Singin' in the Rain in 1952.
14.
In 1970, Lennie Hayton arranged Frank Sinatra's first attempt at the George Harrison composition "Something".
15.
Lennie Hayton composed "Apple Blossoms" with Joe Venuti, Frankie Trumbauer, and Eddie Lang.
16.
Lennie Hayton co-arranged the Hoagy Carmichael composition "Stardust" with Artie Shaw, for Shaw's recording of it in 1940, for Bluebird Records.
17.
Lennie Hayton met Lena Horne when both were under contract to MGM and married her in December 1947 in Paris.
18.
Lennie Hayton later admitted in a 1980 Ebony interview she had married Hayton primarily to advance her career, and cross the "color-line" in show business, but had learned to love him very much.
19.
Horne and Lennie Hayton were separated for most of the 1960s.
20.
Always a heavy drinker and smoker, Lennie Hayton died of a heart attack while separated from Horne, in Palm Springs, California in 1971.
21.
Lennie Hayton was buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.