He was a composer, conductor and songwriter born John Waldo Green in New York, New York to a musical family. He gained acceptance into Harvard when he was fifteen, studying music, history, economics and government and after his Harvard Gold Coast Orchestra was heard by Guy Lombardo he was asked to arrange dance music for his orchestra. He became a stockbroker on his father’s wishes but his wife urged him to pursue his obvious talent in music.
He arranged for orchestras and accompanied stars including Libby Holman and Ethel Merman and wrote the extremely successful song “Body and Soul” for Gertrude Lawrence. He was later commissioned to write orchestral works for by Paul Whiteman and Nathaniel Shilkret, wrote scores for Paramount, was a musical director while touring vaudeville and conducted on the East Coast.
He established Johnny Green, His Piano and Orchestra when he was 25 and they made several recordings for the Columbia and Brunswick labels. He later starred in the Socony Sketchbook with Virginia Verrill and a regular cast of film and stage vocalists.
He moved to Hollywood in the 1940s and worked with MGM where he is known to be highly involved in changing the sound of the orchestra in 1944 by re-seating members and thereby changing the orchestral sound that had been heard from 1929. His works can be heard on the soundtracks for Raintree Country, Easter Parade, An American in Paris, West Side Story, High Society and Royal Wedding among numerous others.
He was a member of ASCAP’s board, and a guest conductor with orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Detroit Symphony. He was the recipient of 5 Academy Awards with a further 8 nominations, a Golden Globe, a Grammy Award and honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He died in Beverly Hills, California, in 1989 when he was 80 years old.
The Manhattan Transfer Recordings
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman/Johnny Green/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton)
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