Song:Lisbon Antigua
Album:We Love Nelson Riddle!
Nelson Riddle is probably best known as the arranger and producer of Frank Sinatra's 50s Capitol recordings. Of course he did plenty of other stuff. He even topped the pop charts with Lisbon Antigua in 1956. He was born June 1, 1921 in Oradell, NJ. His father was a local bandleader. Riddle learned to play the piano as a child and then took up the trombone as a teen. He wanted to be a jazz musician. But Riddle said he didn't have the coordination so he got into composing instead. While playing in Charlie Briggs' band, he took lessons from Bill Finnegan who had been an arranger for Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. During WWII, Riddle was in the Merchant Marines and he played trombone in Charlie Spivak and Tommy Dorsey's bands. After the war, he moved to Los Angeles. He backed up Doris Day's 1949 hit Again. Then Les Baxter hired Riddle to work on a Nat King Cole session at Capitol Records. Riddle arranged Mona Lisa but Baxter got the credit. When Frank Sinatra signed with Capitol in 1953, Riddle was hired to work with him. Of course this was a very successful partnership and Riddle worked with all the great Capitol singers of the era. He also started recording his own albums. Lisbon Antigua was released on a 10" EP in 1956. It topped the pop charts for four weeks. It's a Portuguese song written in 1937. Nat King Cole's manager heard the song and brought it to Riddle. Riddle played piano accompanied by an orchestra and chorus. The record got him into scoring films as he used it in the 1956 film Lisbon starring Ray Milland and Maureen O'Hara. After that, Riddle recorded many albums. Lisbon Antigua was never released on an album. But you can get it on this comp CD from the British label El. Riddle left Capitol for Sinatra's new label Reprise in 1963. When Sinatra stopped working with him in 1966, Riddle produced several albums for Ella Fitzgerald. He also got more into films and TV. He won an Oscar for The Great Gatsby. And then in the 80s, he was very successful working with Linda Ronstadt. Riddle died on Oct. 6, 1985 at age 64. But he won a Grammy for his final album with Ronstadt and she accepted the award and narrated a tribute to Riddle. His son Christopher Riddle took over his orchestra and toured. I don't think the band is active right now. Here's a video for Lisbon Antigua by Nelson Riddle.
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