Artist:Joe Harnell and the Bossa Nova Pops
Song:Fly Me to the Moon
Album:Martinis Bikinis & Memories
Pianist, composer and arranger Joe Harnell had a long and varied career not only in music but in TV and advertising. This 1963 Bossa Nova arrangement of Fly Me to the Moon was a top 20 pop hit. A couple of his other songs charted so he was technically not a one hit wonder. But for all the albums Harnell recorded, this was his only big hit. He was born Aug. 2, 1924 in The Bronx, NY. His father was a vaudeville performer who played piano in jazz and klezmer bands. What is klezmer? That is music that Eastern European Jews brought to North America. Think of it as Jewish Jazz. Harnell began playing piano at age six. And he played with his dad as a teen. After attending the University of Miami on a music scholarship, Harnell enlisted in the US Air Force and played in Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Band. After his discharge, Harnell studied at Tanglewood under Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. After Harnell returned to New York, he was in Lester Lanin's band. And he was an accompanist for Judy Garland, Maurice Chevalier and Marlene Dietrich. Harnell was Peggy Lee's full time accompanist and arranger from 1958-61. While recovering from a 1962 car crash, Kapp Records asked Harnell if he was interested in recording Bossa Nova themed instrumental music. Harnell recorded six albums for Kapp. Fly Me to the Moon is from the 1963 album Fly Me to the Moon. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Pop Performance. You can get it on this various artists budget CD of lounge music from Laserlight. Harnell also recorded for Columbia, Motown and Capitol. He worked for Grey Advertising as a jingle writer starting in 1964. And from 1967-73, Harnell was musical director for The Mike Douglas Show. Harnell moved to Hollywood in 1973. He worked on TV themes like The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk and he was Emmy nominated for the 1983 mini series V. He also wrote the theme for the NBC Daytime soap Santa Barbara. Then he joined the faculty of USC's Thornton School of Music as a film score composition instructor. Harnell's older son Jess Harnell is the voice of Wakko Warner on Animaniacs and the voice of Crash Bandicoot. His other son Jason Harnell is a jazz drummer who has worked with Maynard Ferguson. Joe Harnell died on July 14, 2005 at age 80. And like I always say, one hit single is better than none. Here's a video for Fly Me to the Moon by Joe Harnell and the Bossa Nova Pops.
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