AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra

Artist:Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra f/Eddie Haywood
Song:Canadian Sunset
Album:Through The Years




Hugo Winterhalter was a house arranger and producer for RCA Records in the 50s. He also released instrumentals under his own name similar to what Percy Faith did at Columbia. Winterhalter scored seven top ten hits. The 1956 single Canadian Sunset was the biggest of those hits. He was born Aug. 15, 1909 in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He played sax at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland and he studied at the New England Conservatory of Music. After graduating, he taught for a few years. In the 30s he worked for Count Basie, Claude Thornhill and Tommy Dorsey. In the late 40s he got into studio work first with MGM and then Columbia. Winterhalter joined RCA in 1950. At RCA he worked with Harry Belafonte, Eddie Fisher, Perry Como, Dinah Shore and The Ames Brothers. He also scored top ten hits with Blue Christmas in 1949, Count Every Star and Mr. Touchdown U.S.A. in 1950 and Blue Tango and Vanessa in 1952. He recorded the 1954 single Land of Dreams with pianist Eddie Haywood. Haywood started out as a jazz pianist in the 40s. But by the 50s he was recording easy listening albums. After Land of Dreams charted, Winterhalter asked Heywood to write another song. That was Canadian Sunset. It reached #2 on the pop charts in 1956. A vocal version by Andy Williams was also a top ten hit. Norman Gimbel wrote the lyrics. Winterhalter worked for RCA until 1963. He worked for Kapp Records and on Broadway, films and TV. The British label Jasmine has released this 2CD comp covering Winterhalter's entire career. Canadian Sunset also appears on various artists CDs like the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's Netflix film The Irishman. Hugo Winterhalter died of cancer on Sept. 17, 1973 at age 64. Here's a video for Canadian Sunset by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra featuring Eddie Haywood.