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Ken Darby (May 13 1909 - January 24 1992) was an American Academy Award and Grammy Award
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
 winning composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, vocal arranger, and conductor. He has shared in winning an Oscar three times and was nominated for three others:

His choral group, the Ken Darby Singers, sang backup for Bing Crosby on the original 1942 Decca Records studio recording of "White Christmas." They also sang on the first album ever made of the songs from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 in film Cinema of the United States musical film-fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 Children's literature novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L....
, in 1940, a film on which Darby had worked.






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Ken Darby (May 13 1909 - January 24 1992) was an American Academy Award and Grammy Award
Grammy Award

The Grammy Awards ?or Grammys?are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry....
 winning composer
Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, usually in the medium of musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music....
, vocal arranger, and conductor. He has shared in winning an Oscar three times and was nominated for three others:
  • Awarded "Scoring of a Musical Picture" The King and I
    The King and I (1956 film)

    The King and I is a 1956 in film musical film made by 20th Century Fox, directed by Walter Lang and produced by Charles Brackett and Darryl F....
     (1956) (with Alfred Newman
    Alfred Newman

    Alfred Newman was a major United States composer of music for films.He received 45 Academy Awards nominations, making him the second most nominated composer-arranger in the history of the Academy Awards, behind John Williams ....
    )
  • Nominated "Scoring of a Musical Picture" South Pacific (1958) (with Alfred Newman
    Alfred Newman

    Alfred Newman was a major United States composer of music for films.He received 45 Academy Awards nominations, making him the second most nominated composer-arranger in the history of the Academy Awards, behind John Williams ....
    )
  • Awarded "Scoring of a Musical Picture" Porgy and Bess
    Porgy and Bess (1959 film)

    Porgy and Bess is a 1959 movie based on George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. It is set in the fictional Catfish Row in early 1900s Charleston, South Carolina....
     (1959) (with Andre Previn
    André Previn

    Andr? Previn Order of the British Empire is a German-born American Academy Award and Grammy Award winning pianist, conducting, and composer. He first came to prominence by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores in 1948....
    )
  • Nominated "Scoring of a Musical Picture" Flower Drum Song
    Flower Drum Song (film)

    Flower Drum Song is a 1961 Academy Award nominated film adaptation of the 1958 Broadway theatre musical theatre play Flower Drum Song, written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II....
     (1961) (with Alfred Newman
    Alfred Newman

    Alfred Newman was a major United States composer of music for films.He received 45 Academy Awards nominations, making him the second most nominated composer-arranger in the history of the Academy Awards, behind John Williams ....
    )
  • Nominated "Original Music Score" How the West Was Won
    How the West Was Won (film)

    How the West Was Won is a 1962 in film Epic Western Western which follows four generations of a family as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean....
     (1963) (with Alfred Newman
    Alfred Newman

    Alfred Newman was a major United States composer of music for films.He received 45 Academy Awards nominations, making him the second most nominated composer-arranger in the history of the Academy Awards, behind John Williams ....
    )
  • Awarded "Scoring of Music-adaptation or treatment" Camelot
    Camelot (film)

    Camelot is the 1967 in film film version of the Camelot . Richard Harris appears as King Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere and Franco Nero as Lancelot....
     (1967) (with Alfred Newman
    Alfred Newman

    Alfred Newman was a major United States composer of music for films.He received 45 Academy Awards nominations, making him the second most nominated composer-arranger in the history of the Academy Awards, behind John Williams ....
    )
  • Awarded Grammy, "Best Soundtrack Album, Original Cast, Movie or Television" Porgy and Bess
    Porgy and Bess (1959 film)

    Porgy and Bess is a 1959 movie based on George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. It is set in the fictional Catfish Row in early 1900s Charleston, South Carolina....
     (1959) (with Andre Previn
    André Previn

    Andr? Previn Order of the British Empire is a German-born American Academy Award and Grammy Award winning pianist, conducting, and composer. He first came to prominence by arranging and composing Hollywood film scores in 1948....
    )


His choral group, the Ken Darby Singers, sang backup for Bing Crosby on the original 1942 Decca Records studio recording of "White Christmas." They also sang on the first album ever made of the songs from The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)

The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 in film Cinema of the United States musical film-fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 Children's literature novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L....
, in 1940, a film on which Darby had worked. However, the album was a studio cast recording
Studio recording

The term studio recording means any recording made in a Music studio, as opposed to a Live performance, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance....
, not a true soundtrack album
Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the movie trailer that do not appear in the movie but occur on the soundtrack album....
, although it did feature Judy Garland
Judy Garland

Judy Garland was an American actress and alto singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage....
, and it did not use the film's original arrangements.

He was a composer and production supervisor for Walt Disney
Walt Disney

Walter Elias Disney was a multiple Academy Award-winning American film producer, film director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur and philanthropist....
 Studios, and was choral and vocal director on the 1946 Disney film classic, Song of the South.

He was Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model, and a sex symbol.After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946....
's vocal coach for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and There's No Business Like Show Business
There's No Business Like Show Business (film)

There's No Business Like Show Business is a 20th Century Fox film that was released on December 16, 1954. The title is borrowed from the There's No Business Like Show Business in the musical Annie Get Your Gun ....
 (1954).

He also composed the Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was an United Statesn singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as "Elvis", and is also sometimes referred to as "List of honorific titles in popular music" or "The King"....
 hit "Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender is the title of:* Love Me Tender , starring Elvis Presley* Love Me Tender , a song by Elvis Presley, to tune of the American Civil War song "Aura Lee"...
" for the movie of the same name, but signed the rights over to his wife, Vera Matson, whose name appears as co-lyricist with Elvis Presley for royalty purposes. His interment was located at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)

Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery is part of the Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries chain of Southern California cemeteries. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, which is on the lower north slope at the far east end of the Santa Monica Mountains range that overlooks North Hol...
.

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