Antigua

Native name: Waladli
Map of Antigua showing the parishes
Geography
Location	Caribbean Sea
Coordinates	17°5′N 61°48′W / 17.083°N 61.8°W / 17.083; -61.8Coordinates: 17°5′N 61°48′W / 17.083°N 61.8°W / 17.083; -61.8
Archipelago	Leeward Islands
Area	281 km2 (108.5 sq mi)
Coastline	87 km (54.1 mi)
Highest elevation	402 m (1,319 ft)
Highest point	Mount Obama / Boggy Peak
Country
Antigua and Barbuda
Largest city	St. John's (pop. 31,000)
Demographics
Population	80,161 (as of 2011 Census)
Density	285.2 /km2 (738.7 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	91% Black or Mulatto, 4.4% Other Mixed Race, 1.7% White, 2.9% Other

Turner Beach in Antigua

Antigua ( /ænˈtiːɡə/ an-TEE-gə; sometimes the spelling pronunciation /ænˈtiːɡwə/ is heard^[1]), also known as Wadadli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la Antigua — St. Mary of the Old Cathedral.^[2] The name Wadadli,^[3] comes from the original Amerindian inhabitants, and means approximately "our own".^{[citation needed]} The island's circumference is roughly 87 km (54 mi) and its area 281 km² (108 sq mi). Its population was 80,161 (at the 2011 Census).^[4] The economy is mainly reliant on tourism, with the agricultural sector serving the domestic market.

Over 31,000 people live in the capital city, St. John's, at 17°6′N 61°45′W / 17.1°N 61.75°W / 17.1; -61.75. The capital is situated in the north-west and has a deep harbour which is able to accommodate large cruise ships. Other leading population settlements are All Saints (3,412) and Liberta (2,239), according to the 2001 census.

English Harbour on the south-eastern coast is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms. It is the site of a restored British colonial naval station called "Nelson's Dockyard" after Captain Horatio Nelson. Today English Harbour and the neighbouring village of Falmouth are internationally famous as a yachting and sailing destination and provisioning centre. During Antigua Sailing Week, at the end of April and beginning of May, the annual world-class regatta brings many sailing vessels and sailors to the island to play sports.

Economy[link]

Antigua's economy is reliant upon tourism, and it markets itself as a luxury Caribbean escape. Antigua is also supported by the growing medical school and its students. Many hotels and resorts are located around the coastline, and the island's single airport is serviced by several major airlines including Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, US Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Caribbean Airlines, Air Canada and LIAT.

The only regular service to Barbuda flies from VC Bird Airport. The United States Air Force maintains a small base near the airport as part of its Eastern Range, used for space missions and communications.

The University of Health Sciences Antigua (UHSA) and the American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine teach aspiring doctors.

The country's official currency is the East Caribbean dollar. However, many prices in tourist-oriented businesses are shown in US dollars. The EC dollar is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate of $1 US = $2.7169 EC.

History[link]

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Rocky shoreline near St. John's.

Dickenson Bay beach, Antigua

The early Antiguans[link]

Prior to European colonialism, the first residents were the Ciboney Indians, who inhabited the island for several thousand years before mysteriously departing. Pastoral Arawak Indians settled here before being replaced by the Caribs, the last group to inhabit the island before it was taken over by Europeans. That occurred in 1493, when Christopher Columbus spotted Antigua on his second voyage. Life did not change dramatically for nearly 150 years after, as the Caribs resisted any European efforts to colonise.

The Arawaks were the first well-documented group of Antiguans. This group paddled to the island by canoe (piragua) from Venezuela, ejected by the Caribs—another people indigenous to the area. Arawaks introduced agriculture to Antigua and Barbuda, raising, among other crops, the famous Antiguan "Black" pineapple. They also cultivated various other foods including:

• Corn
• Sweet potatoes (white with firmer flesh than the bright orange "sweet potato" used in the United States.)
• Chilis
• Guava
• Tobacco
• Cotton
• Mango

Some of the vegetables listed, such as corn and sweet potatoes, still play an important role in Antiguan cuisine. For example, a popular Antiguan dish, dukuna (/ˈduːkuːnɑː/), is a sweet, steamed dumpling made from grated sweet potatoes, flour and spices. One of the Antiguan staple foods, fungi (/ˈfuːndʒi/), is a cooked paste made of cornmeal and water.

The bulk of the Arawaks left Antigua about A.D. 1100. Those who remained were subsequently raided by the Caribs. According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, the Caribs' superior weapons and seafaring prowess allowed them to defeat most Arawak nations in the West Indies. They enslaved some and cannibalised others. The Catholic Encyclopedia does note that the European invaders had difficulty identifying and differentiating between the various native peoples they encountered. As a result, the number and types of ethnic/tribal/national groups at the time may have been more varied and numerous than the two mentioned in this article.

The indigenous West Indians made excellent sea vessels which they used to sail the Atlantic and Caribbean. As a result, Caribs and Arawaks populated much of South American and the Caribbean Islands. Relatives of the Antiguan Arawaks and Caribs still live in various countries in South America, notably Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia. The smaller remaining native populations in the West Indies maintain a pride in their heritage.

Europeans[link]

Aerial view of Jolly Harbour on the western coast of Antigua.

Christopher Columbus named the island "Antigua" in 1493 in honour of the "Virgin of the Old Cathedral"^[2] (Spanish: La Virgen de la Antigua) found in Seville Cathedral in southern Spain. On his 1493 voyage, honouring a vow, he named many islands after different aspects of St. Mary, including Montserrat and Guadaloupe.

In 1632, a group of English colonists left St. Kitts to settle on Antigua. Sir Christopher Codrington, an Englishman, established the first permanent European settlement. From that point on, Antigua history took a dramatic turn. Codrington guided development on the island as a profitable sugar colony. For a large portion of Antigua history, the island was considered Britain's "Gateway to the Caribbean". It was located on the major sailing routes among the region's resource-rich colonies. Lord Horatio Nelson, a major figure in Antigua history, arrived in the late 18th century to preserve the island's commercial shipping prowess.

According to A Brief History of the Caribbean, European and African diseases, malnutrition and slavery eventually destroyed the vast majority of the Caribbean's native population. No researcher has conclusively proven any of these causes as the real reason for the destruction of West Indian natives. In fact, some historians believe that the psychological stress of slavery may also have played a part in the massive number of native deaths while in servitude. Others believe that the reportedly abundant, but starchy, low-protein diet may have contributed to severe malnutrition of the "Indians" who were used to a diet fortified with protein from sealife.

Slavery[link]

Sugar became Antigua's main crop in about 1674, when Christopher Codrington settled at Betty's Hope Estate. He came from Barbados, bringing the latest sugar technology with him. Betty's Hope, Antigua's first full-scale sugar plantation, was so successful that other planters turned from tobacco to sugar. This resulted in their importing tens of thousands of slaves, as sugar cultivation and processing was labour intensive.

According to A Brief History of the Caribbean, many West Indian colonists initially tried to use Indians and whites as slaves. Unfortunately, these groups succumbed easily to disease and/or malnutrition, and died by the thousands. The African slaves had the misfortune of adapting well to the new environment; and thus became the number one choice of "unpaid labour." In fact, the slaves throve physically and also provided medical services, and skilled labour, such as carpentry for their slave masters.

Today, collectors prize the uniquely-designed "colonial" furniture built by West Indian slaves. Many of these works feature what are now considered "traditional" motifs, such as pineapples, fish and stylised serpents.

According to "A history of Antigua" by Bran Dyde, by the mid 1770s, the number of slaves had increased to 37,500 from 12,500 in 1713, whereas the white population had fallen from 5000 to below 3000. The slaves lived in wretched and overcrowded conditions, and could be mistreated or even killed by their owners with impunity. The Slave Act of 1723 made arbitrary murder of slaves illegal, but did not do much to ease their lives.

Unrest among the slaves became increasingly common. In 1729, a slave named Hercules was hanged, drawn and quartered, and three others burnt alive, for conspiring to kill the slave owner Crump and his family. In 1736, a slave called "Prince Klaas" (whose real name was Court) planned an uprising in which whites would be massacred. Court was crowned "King of the Coromantees" in a pasture outside the capital of St. John's, in what appeared to be just a colourful spectacle, but was for the slaves a ritual declaration of war on the whites. Due to information obtained from other slaves, colonists discovered the plot and suppressed it. Prince Klaas and four accomplices were caught and executed by the breaking wheel. Six slaves were hanged in chains and starved to death, and another fifty-eight were burned at the stake. The site of these executions is now the Antiguan Recreation Ground.^[5]

The American War of Independence in the late eighteenth century disrupted the Caribbean sugar trade. At the same time, public opinion in Britain gradually turned against slavery. Great Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, and all existing slaves were emancipated in 1834.

Horatio, Lord Nelson[link]

Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (who was created Viscount Nelson 1801) was Senior Naval Officer of the Leeward Islands from 1784 to 1787 on H.M.S. Boreas. During his tenure, he tried to enforce the Navigation Acts. These acts prohibited trade with the newly formed United States of America. Most of the merchants in Antigua depended upon American trade, so many of them despised Captain Nelson. As a result, he was unable to get a promotion for some time after his stint on the island.

Unlike the Antiguan merchants, Nelson had a positive view of the Navigation Acts. The following quote from The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson by Robert Southey sums up his views about the controversial Navigation Acts:

The Americans were at this time trading with our islands, taking advantage of the register of their ships, which had been issued while they were British subjects. Nelson knew that, by the Navigation Act, no foreigners, directly or indirectly, are permitted to carry on any trade with these possessions. He knew, also, that the Americans had made themselves foreigners with regard to England; they had disregarded the ties of blood and language when they acquired the independence which they had been led on to claim, unhappily for themselves before they were fit for it; and he was resolved that they should derive no profit from those ties now. Foreigners they had made themselves, and as foreigners they were to be treated.

Southey then quotes Nelson as saying that "The Antiguan Colonists are as great rebels as ever were in America, had they the power to show it."

A dockyard started in 1725, to provide a base for a squadron of British ships whose main function was to patrol the West Indies and thus maintain Britain's sea power, was later named "Nelson's Dockyard" in his honour.

While Nelson was stationed on Antigua, he frequently visited the nearby island of Nevis, where he met and married a young widow, Fanny Nisbet, who had previously married the son of a plantation family on Nevis.

Political status[link]

In 1968, with Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda as dependencies, Antigua became an associated state of the Commonwealth, and in 1981 it was disassociated from Britain. The country was then led by what many describe as an elected family dynasty, with Vere C. Bird, the first prime minister, having been succeeded in 1993 by Lester B. Bird, his son, who retained the post until 2004.

Demographics[link]

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St. John's Cathedral

The ethnic distribution consist of 91% Black, Mulatto and mixed Black/Amerindian, 4.4% Other Mixed Race, 1.7% White, 2.9% Other (primarily East Indian and Asian). The majority of the white population is ethnically Irish and British, and Portuguese. There are also Christian Levantine Arabs (primarily of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian descent) and a small population of Asians and Sephardic Jews.

Behind the late twentieth century reviving and re-specifying of the place of African-Antiguans and Barbudans in the cultural life of the society, is a history of race/ethnic relations that systematically excluded them. A colonial framework was established by the English soon after their initial settlement of Antigua in 1623.

Mixed-race relationships and later immigration resulted by the late nineteenth century in the emergence of five distinct and carefully ranked race/ethnic groups. At the top of this hierarchy were the British, who justified their hegemony with arguments of white supremacy and civilizing missions. Among themselves, there were divisions between British Antiguans and non-creolised British, with the latter coming out on top. In short, this was a race/ethnic hierarchy that gave maximum recognition to Anglicised persons and cultural practices.

Immediately below the British, were the mulattoes, a mixed-race group resulting from unions between, generally, white European males and enslaved black African women, many of which took place in the years before the expansion of slave population. Mulattoes were lighter in shade than the masses of black Africans. Some white fathers had their sons educated or trained in crafts. They sometimes benefited them in other ways, which led to the development of a separate class. Mulattoes gradually distinguished themselves from the masses of enslaved black Africans. They developed complex ideologies of shade to legitimate their claims to higher status. These ideologies of shade paralleled in many ways British ideologies of white supremacy.

Next in this hierarchy were the Portuguese— 2500 of whom migrated as workers from Madeira between 1847 and 1852 because of a severe famine. Many established small businesses and joined the ranks of what was by then the mulatto middle class. The British never really considered Portuguese as their equals, so they were not allowed into their ranks. Among Portuguese Antiguans and Barbudans, status differences move along a continuum of varying degrees of assimilation into the Anglicised practices of the dominant group.

Below the Portuguese were the Middle Easterners, who began migrating to Antigua and Barbuda around the turn of the twentieth century. Starting as itinerant traders, they soon worked their way into the middle strata of the society. Although Middle Easterners came from a variety of areas in the Middle East, as a group they are usually referred to as Syrians.

Fifth and finally were the African-Antiguans and Barbudans who were located at the bottom of this hierarchy. Transported as slaves, Africans started arriving in Antigua and Barbuda in large numbers during the 1670s. Very quickly they came to constitute the majority of the population. As they entered this hierarchy, Africans were profoundly racialised. They ceased being Ashantee, Ewe, Yoruba and became Negroes or blacks. In the 20th century, the colonial hierarchy gradually began to come apart as a result of universal education and better economic opportunity. This process gave rise to blacks reaching the highest strata of society and government.

In the last decade, Spanish-speaking immigrants from the Dominican Republic and African-Caribbean immigrants from Guyana and Dominica have been added to this ethnic mosaic. As new immigrants often fleeing poverty and political unrest, they have entered at the bottom of the hierarchy. Today, an increasingly large percentage of Antiguans have migrated abroad, most notably to the United Kingdom (Antiguan Britons), United States and Canada. A minority of Antiguan residents are immigrants from other countries, particularly Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica, with an increasing number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ghana, and Nigeria. There is also a significant population of American citizens estimated at 4500 people, one of the largest American citizen populations in the English-speaking Eastern Caribbean.^[6]

Almost all Antiguans are Christians (74%^[7]), with the Anglican Church (about 44%) being the largest denomination. Catholicism is the other significant denomination, with the remainder being other Protestants: including Methodists, Moravians, Pentecostals and Seventh-Day Adventists. There are also Jehovah's Witnesses. Non-Christian religions practised on the islands include Rastafari, Islam, Judaism, and Baha'i.

Sport[link]

The major Antiguan sport is cricket. Sir Vivian ("Viv") Richards is one of the most famous Antiguans, who played for, and captained, the West Indies team. Richards scored the fastest Test century at the Antigua Recreation Ground, it was also the venue at which Brian Lara twice broke the world record for an individual Test innings (375 in 1993/94, 400 not out in 2003/04, both times against England). Antigua was the location of a 2007 Cricket World Cup site, on a new Recreation Ground constructed on an old cane field in the north of the island. Both soccer and basketball are becoming popular among the island youth. There are several golf courses in Antigua.

Being surrounded by water, sailing has been one of the most popular sports for years with Antigua Sailing Week and Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta being two of the regions most reputable sailing competitions. Hundreds of yachts from around the world compete around Antigua each year. Sport Fishing is also a very popular sport with several big competitions held yearly. Windsurfing was very popular until kitesurfing came to the island with a big splash. Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is very popular at Jabbawock Beach. Local Antiguan, Andre Phillip is one of the most famous kitesurfers in the world and spends much of his time training in Antigua and Barbuda.

Internet hosting and gaming[link]

Antigua is a recognised centre for online gambling companies. Antigua was one of the very first nations to legalise, licence and regulate online gaming. Some countries, most notably the United States, argue that because the gaming transaction is initiated in their jurisdictions that the act of online wagering is illegal. This argument has been rejected by the World Trade Organization.^[8]

However in 2006 the United States Congress voted to approve the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act which criminalises the operations of offshore gaming operators which take wagers from American-based gamblers. This was a prima facie violation of the GATS treaty obligations enforced by the WTO, resulting in a series of rulings unfavourable to the US.

Lately an arbitration panel in a so-called Article 22 hearing ruled that the US failure to comply with WTO rules would attract a US$21 million sanction.^[9]

This is not the end of the issue, since further developments in US law and in trade patterns can trigger a new claim by Antigua, especially the Article 21 procedure being followed by the US to remove cross-border gambling from its GATS obligations.

The ruling was notable in two respects:

First, although technically a victory for Antigua, the $21 million was far less than the US$3.5 billion which had been sought; one of the three arbitrators was sufficiently bothered by the propriety of this that he issued a dissenting opinion—an unprecedented move.

Second, a rider to the arbitration ruling affirmed the right of Antigua to take retaliatory steps in view of the prior failure of the US to comply with GATS. These included the rare, but not unprecedented, right to disregard intellectual property obligations to the US.^[10]

This last is of very great importance. Antigua's obligations to the US in respect of patents, copyright, and trademarks are affected. In particular, Berne Convention copyright is in question, and also material NOT covered by the Berne convention, including TRIPS accord obligations to the US. Antigua may thus disregard the WIPO treaty on intellectual property rights, and therefore the US implementation of that treaty (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA)—at least up to the limit of compensation.

Since there is no appeal to the WTO from an Arbitration panel of this kind, it represents the last legal word from the WTO on the matter. Antigua is therefore able to recoup some of the claimed loss of trade by hosting (and taxing) companies whose business model depends on immunity from TRIPS provisions.

Software company SlySoft is based in Antigua, allowing it to avoid nations with laws that are tough on anti-circumvention of technological copyright measures, in particular the DMCA in the United States.

Notable residents[link]

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• Giorgio Armani, Italian fashion designer; owns a home near Galley Bay^[11]
• Calvin Ayre, billionaire founder of internet gambling company Bodog Entertainment Group^{[citation needed]}
• Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Prime Minister^{[citation needed]}
• Richard Branson, Virgin Atlantic mogul^[12]
• Viv Richards, West Indian cricket legend; the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua was named in his honour^[13]
• Timothy Dalton, Actor of James Bond fame^[14]
• Eric Clapton, established an Antiguan drug treatment centre; has a home on the south of the island^[15]
• Ken Follett, the author of Eye of the Needle owns a house on Jumby Bay^[14]
• Marie-Elena John, Antiguan writer and former African Development Foundation specialist. Her debut novel, Unburnable was selected Best Debut of 2006 by Black Issues Book Review^[16]
• Jamaica Kincaid, novelist famous for her writings about life on Antigua. Her book A Small Place was banned under the Vere Bird administration^{[citation needed]}
• Lee Malvo, Sniper was recruited by John Allen Mohamed in Antigua in 2001. They went on to kill several people in the Washington DC area in 2002.^[17]
• Allen Stanford, Texan billionaire and defrauder^[18][19]
• Robin Leach of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame.^[20]
• Archibald MacLeish Poet and (U.S.) Librarian of Congress.
• Rachel Lambert Mellon Horticulturist and philanthropist, has owned a compound in Antigua's Half Moon Bay since the 1950s.
• John Allen Muhammad Sniper and trainer lived in Antigua from 2000– 2002.
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste actress, is of Antiguan parentage.^{[citation needed]}
• Andriy Shevchenko, football player currently with FC Dynamo Kyiv^{[citation needed]}
• Andy Roberts, the first Antiguan to play Test cricket for the West Indies. He was a member of the West Indies teams that won the 1975 and 1979 World Cups.^[21]
• Curtly Ambrose, legendary West-Indian cricketer
• Richie Richardson, former West-Indies cricket team captain
• Peter Stringfellow, British nightclub owner
• John Barrowman, actor, singer, entertainer
• Thomas J. Watson Jr.. CEO of IBM

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

	Geography portal
	Caribbean portal
	Commonwealth realms portal

	Book: Antigua and Barbuda
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Outline of Antigua and Barbuda
• Bibliography of Antigua and Barbuda
• Index of Antigua and Barbuda-related articles
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Leeward Islands
• List of Antiguans and Barbudans

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Antigua Nice (The Antigua Nice article was extracted by D.V. Nicholson's writings for the Antigua Historic Sites and Conservation Commission.)
• The Torture Museum Site
• The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson by Robert Southey
• The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Veranda Magazine, Island Flourish: West Indian Furnishings by Dana Micucci, March – April 2004
• A Brief History of the Caribbean from the Arawak and the Carib to the Present, by Jan Rogozinski, Penguin Putnam, Inc September 2000
• Article on Antiguan real estate – http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/04/news/reantigua.php

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antigua

• Government of Antigua and Barbuda
• Map of Antigua From Paradise Islands (non commercial site)
• Antigua Barbuda Department of Tourism

Cindy Taylor (born April 18, 1977) is a fashion model, actress and television host. Born in Asunción, Paraguay to a Paraguayan mother, her father was a United States citizen, having relocated the family to Clarksburg, West Virginia immediately after Taylor was born. When Taylor was eight years old, her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved back to Paraguay, where she would reside for the next ten years. In Paraguay she attended the American School of Asuncion and the international SEK School.

In 1997, she was discovered by photographer Jesus Roman in Miami, Florida. Shortly after, Taylor was signed by Irene Marie Models. She was soon part of advertising and fashion campaigns for Guess?, Pantene, Parasuco, Perry Ellis, Rampage^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Proactive, and Frito Lays. Cindy soon became known as a cover girl, gracing the fronts of Esquire, Ocean Drive, Shape Magazine, Loft Magazine, Men's Journal, Vanidades, Glamour, and more.

Cindy was cast as the host of Wild On!, a popular travel series on the E! Entertainment Television channel, replacing Brooke Burke in 2002.

In 2005, Taylor shot a cameo role in the Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams romantic comedy Wedding Crashers. That same year, Cindy landed a supporting role in the independent feature film Descansos, opposite Gary Busey and Charles Durning. In 2007, Taylor had a cameo appearance in the sequel to Bachelor Party and appeared in the music video for Nickelback's Rockstar.

Taylor has most recently appeared on TV in the episode "Identity", on the USA Network series Burn Notice, as well as hosting Full Frontal Fashion for UltraHD.

Taylor is the official spokesperson for the Beauties and the Beasts partnership launched between Irene Marie Models, the Zoological Society of Florida, and Miami MetroZoo. Cindy has made several appearances and participated in photoshoots on behalf of this partnership. Their goal is to inspire an appreciation for the world's wildlife and conserve it for future generations.

Cindy currently has two projects under development. An as yet untitled Car Drifting television series and Vegas Confessions, a HDNet project which premiered in August 2008 showcasing Las Vegas and the people who confess their wildest stories on camera.

External links[link]

• Cindy Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Cindy Taylor on Myspace
• 2002 Stuff interview

This biographical article related to television is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Nelson Smock Riddle, Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid 1980s. His work for Capitol Records kept such vocalists as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney and Keely Smith household names. He found commercial and critical success again in the 1980s with a trio of Platinum albums with vocalist Linda Ronstadt.

Early years[link]

Riddle was born in Oradell, New Jersey, the only child of Marie Albertine Riddle and Nelson Smock Riddle, Sr., and later moved to nearby Ridgewood.^[1] Following his father's interest in music, he began taking piano lessons at age eight and trombone lessons at age fourteen. Riddle and his family had a summer house in Rumson, New Jersey. He enjoyed Rumson so much that he convinced his parents to allow him to attend high school there for his senior year.^[2] After his graduation from Rumson High School, Riddle spent his late teens and early 20s playing trombone in and occasionally arranging for various local dance bands, culminating in his association with the Charlie Spivak Orchestra.

In 1943, Riddle joined the Merchant Marine, serving at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York for roughly two years. During this time he continued working for the Charlie Spivak Orchestra and he studied orchestration under his fellow merchant marine, composer Alan Shulman. After his enlistment term ended, Riddle traveled to Chicago to join the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1944; he remained the orchestra's third trombone for eleven months until drafted by the United States Army in April, 1945.

Just months after Riddle entered the Army, World War II ended and he was discharged (June 1946) after serving fifteen months on active duty. Riddle moved shortly thereafter to Hollywood to pursue his career as an arranger and spent the next several years writing arrangements for multiple radio and record projects.

The Capitol years[link]

In 1950, Riddle was hired by composer Les Baxter to write arrangements for a recording session with Nat King Cole; this was one of Riddle's first associations with Capitol Records. Although one of the songs Riddle had arranged, "Mona Lisa," soon became the biggest selling single of Cole's career, the work was credited to Baxter. However, once Cole learned the identity of the arrangement's creator, he sought out Riddle's work for other sessions, and thus began a fruitful partnership that furthered the careers of both men at Capitol.

During the same year, Riddle also struck up a conversation with Vern Yocum, (born George Vernon Yocum) a big band jazz musician (brother of Pied Piper, Clark Yocum) who had transitioned into music preparation servicing Frank Sinatra and other entertainers at Capitol Records. A collaboration followed with Vern becoming Riddle's "right hand" as copyist and librarian for the next thirty years.

In 1952, Capitol Records executives viewed the up-and-coming Riddle as a prime choice to arrange for the newly-arrived Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was reluctant however, preferring instead to remain with Axel Stordahl, his long-time collaborator from his Columbia Records years. When success of the first few Capitol sides with Stordahl proved disappointing, Sinatra eventually relented and Riddle was called in to arrange his first session for Sinatra, held on April 30, 1953. The first product of the Riddle-Sinatra partnership, "I've Got The World On A String," became a runaway hit and is often credited with relaunching the singer's slumping career. His personal favorite, a Sinatra ballad album, Only the Lonely.

Riddle was to stay at Capitol for another decade, during which time he continued to arrange for Sinatra and Cole, in addition to such Capitol artists as Kate Smith, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Keely Smith, Sue Raney, and Ed Townsend. He also found time to release his own instrumental albums on the label, most notably Hey...Let Yourself Go (1957) and C'mon...Get Happy (1958), both of which peaked at a respectable number twenty on the Billboard charts.

While at Capitol, Riddle continued his successful film arranging career, most notably with MGM's Conrad Salinger on the first onscreen duet between Bing Crosby and Sinatra in High Society (1956), and the 1957 film version of Pal Joey directed by George Sidney for Columbia Pictures. In 1969, he arranged and conducted the music for the film Paint Your Wagon, which starred a trio of non-singers, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg.

Later years[link]

In 1962, Riddle orchestrated two albums for Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson, and Ella Swings Gently with Nelson, their first work together since 1959's Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook. The mid-1960s would also see Fitzgerald and Riddle collaborate on the last of Ella's 'Songbooks', devoted to the songs of Jerome Kern (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook) and Johnny Mercer (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Songbook).

In 1963, Riddle joined Sinatra's newly-established label Reprise Records, under the musical direction of Morris Stoloff. Much of his work in the 1960s and 1970s was for film and television, including his hit theme song for Route 66; steady work scoring episodes of Batman and other television series, and composing the scores of several motion pictures including the Rat Pack features Robin and the 7 Hoods and the original Ocean's 11.

In the latter half of the 1960s, the partnership between Riddle and Frank Sinatra grew more distant as Sinatra began increasingly to turn to Don Costa, Billy May and an assortment of other arrangers for his album projects. Although Riddle would write various arrangements for Sinatra until the late 1970s, Strangers In The Night, released in 1966, was the last full album project the pair completed together. The collection of Riddle-arranged songs was intended to expand on the success of the title track, which had been a number one hit single for Sinatra arranged by Ernie Freeman.

During the 1970s, the majority of his work was for film and television, including the score for the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, which earned Riddle his first Academy Award after some five nominations. In 1973, he served as musical director for the Emmy Award winning The Julie Andrews Hour. Nelson Riddle's Orchestra also made numerous concert appearances throughout the 1970s, some of which were led and contracted by his good friend, Tommy Shepard.

On March 14, 1977, Riddle conducted his last three arrangements for Sinatra. The songs, "Linda," "Sweet Lorraine," and "Barbara," were intended for an album of songs with women's names. The album was never completed. "Sweet Lorraine" was released in 1990 and the other two on "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings" in 1996.^[3]

1982 saw Riddle work for the last time with Ella Fitzgerald, on her last orchestral Pablo album, The Best Is Yet to Come.

Career revival[link]

In 1982, Riddle was approached by Linda Ronstadt to write arrangements for an album of jazz standards Ronstadt had been contemplating since her stint in Pirates of Penzance. The agreement between the two resulted in a three-album contract which included what were to be the last arrangements of Riddle's career, with the exception of an album of twelve Great American Songbook standards he arranged and conducted for his old friend, opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa, in April 1985, six months before his death that October. Ronstadt recalls that when she initially approached Riddle, she did not know if he was even familiar with her music. He knew her name but basically hated rock 'n' roll. However, his daughter was a big Ronstadt fan and told her father, "Don't worry. Her checks won't bounce."

When Nelson learned of Ronstadt's desire to learn more about traditional pop music and agreed to record with her, he insisted on a whole album or nothing. He was at first skeptical, but once he agreed his career turned upside down immediately.^[4] For her to do "elevator music", as she called it, was a great surprise to the young audience. Joe Smith, the president of Elektra, was terrified that the albums would turn off the rock audience. The three albums together sold over seven million copies^[5] and brought Nelson back to a young audience during the last three years of his life. Arrangements for Linda Ronstadt's What's New (1983) and Lush Life (1984) won Riddle his second and third Grammy Awards (the last was awarded posthumously in 1986).

On January 19, 1985, he conducted at the nationally-televised 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. The program was hosted by Frank Sinatra, who sang Fly Me to the Moon and One for My Baby (backed by a single-dancer dance routine by Mikhail Barishnikov).

Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life.^[4] Stephen Holden of the The New York Times wrote, What's New "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s ... In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums ... many of them now long out-of-print".^[6] What's New is the first album by a rock singer to have major commercial success in rehabilitating the Great American Songbook.^[6]

Death and legacy[link]

In 1985, Riddle died in Los Angeles, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, at age 64 of cardiac and kidney failure as a result of being diagnosed five years prior as having cirrhosis of the liver.^[7][8] He is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California in the Hall of David Mausoleum.

Following Riddle's death, his last three arrangements for Ronstadt's For Sentimental Reasons album were conducted by Terry Woodson; the album was released in 1986.

In February 1986, Riddle's youngest son Christopher, himself an accomplished bass trombonist, assumed the leadership of his father's orchestra.

Following the death of Riddle's second wife Naomi in 1998, proceeds from the sale of the Riddle home in Bel Air were used to establish a Nelson Riddle Endowed Chair and library at the University of Arizona, which officially opened in 2001. The opening showcased a gala concert of Riddle's works, with Ronstadt as a featured guest performer.

In 2000, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops released a Nelson Riddle tribute album titled "Route 66: That Nelson Riddle Sound" on Telarc Records. The album showcased expanded orchestral adaptations of the original arrangements provided by the Nelson Riddle Archives, and was presented in a state-of-the-art digital recording that was among the first titles to be released on multi-channel SACD.

While in the Army, Riddle married his first wife Doreen Moran in 1945. The couple had six children. Riddle had an extra-marital affair with singer Rosemary Clooney in the 1960s, which contributed to the breakup of their respective marriages.^[9] In 1968, Riddle separated from his wife Doreen; their divorce became official in 1970. A few months later he married Naomi Tenenholtz, then his secretary, with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Riddle's children are dispersed between the east and west coasts of the United States with Nelson Jr. residing in London, England. Riddle's eldest daughter Rosemary is the trustee of the Nelson Riddle Trust.

Riddle was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music.

In a 1982 radio interview on WNEW with Jonathan Schwartz, Riddle cites Stan Kenton's "23 degrees north 82 degrees west" arranged by Bill Russo as inspiration for his signature trombone interplay crescendos.

Discography[link]

ALBUMS

• 1953 It Can't Be Wrong
• 1953 Love Songs By Rodgers & Hammerstein
• 1954 Swing Easy
• 1954 Unforgettable
• 1954 Songs For Young Lovers
• 1954 Sings For Two In Love
• 1955 In The Wee Small Hours
• 1955 Piano Style of Nat King Cole
• 1956 Songs For Swingin' Lovers
• 1956 Ballads of the Day
• 1956 Judy
• 1956 Lisbon Antigua
• 1956 The Tender Touch
• 1956 This is Sinatra
• 1956 Close To You
• 1956 A Swingin' Affair
• 1956 Phil Silver's Swinging Brass
• 1957 Hey... Let Yourself Go!
• 1957 The Man I Love
• 1957 This is Nat King Cole
• 1958 C'mon... Get Happy!
• 1958 I Wish You Love
• 1958 Sea of Dreams
• 1958 Cross Country Suite
• 1958 When Your Lover Has Gone
• 1958 Jump For Joy
• 1958 This is Sinatra (Volume 2)
• 1958 St. Louis Blues
• 1958 Only The Lonely
• 1958 Witchcraft!
• 1958 Judy In Love
• 1959 New In Town
• 1959 Swingin' Pretty
• 1959 The Joy of Living
• 1959 To Whom It May Concern
• 1959 Take A Number
• 1959 Look to Your Heart
• 1959 Glad To Be Here
• 1959 When I'm Thinking of You
• 1959 Dinah, Yes, Indeed
• 1959 Sing a Song With Riddle
• 1959 Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 1
• 1959 Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 2
• 1959 Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 3
• 1959 Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 4
• 1959 Ella Sings The Gershwin Songbook Volume 5
• 1960 Warm & Willing
• 1960 Wild Is Love
• 1960 Nice 'N' Easy
• 1960 Dream With Me
• 1960 This Time I'm Swingin'
• 1960 Sinatra Swingin' Session
• 1961 Love Tide
• 1961 All the Way
• 1961 Rosie Solves The Swingin' Riddle
• 1962 Cha Cha De Amor
• 1962 Sinatra Sings Of Love & Things
• 1962 Ella Swings Brightly With Nelson
• 1962 Ella Swings Gently With Nelson
• 1962 Love Is a Game of Poker
• 1962 I'll Buy You A Star
• 1962 The Best of Nelson Riddle
• 1962 Let's Face The Music
• 1962 Swinging For You
• 1962 Little Girl Blue, Little Girl New
• 1962 Guard Session Album with Keely Smith
• 1962 Love
• 1962 More Hit TV Theme
• 1963 Jerome Kern Songbook
• 1963 Shirley Bassey Sings the Hit Song from Oliver!
• 1963 Live It Up
• 1963 The Concert Sinatra
• 1963 Sinatra's Sinatra
• 1963 Country Boy
• 1964 Return To Paradise Islands
• 1964 Nat Cole Sings The Great Songs
• 1964 Days Of Wine & Roses
• 1964 Oscar Peterson & Nelson Riddle
• 1964 Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook
• 1964 Hits of *1964
• 1964 All Time Favorites
• 1965 There's Love
• 1965 The Brazilian Mood
• 1966 Games That Lovers Play
• 1966 Strangers In The Night
• 1966 Moonlight Sinatra
• 1966 Nat: An Orchestral Portrait
• 1966 Route 66 Theme
• 1967 Music for Wives and Lovers
• 1967 The Bright and the Beautiful
• 1967 Here, There and Everywhere
• 1968 The Riddle of Today
• 1968 Wish You A Merry Christmas
• 1968 The Contemporary Sound of Nelson Riddle
• 1969 British Columbia Suite
• 1970 The Look of Love
• 1970 Nelson Riddle Conducts The 101 Strings
• 1970 The Sound of Magnificence / With 101 Strings
• 1971 Spice
• 1972 His Way
• 1972 Dream Dancing
• 1972 Changing Colors
• 1972 Communication
• 1972 Portrait of Steve
• 1973 Vive Legrand!
• 1975 That's Entertainment
• 1978 The Rare Sinatra
• 1981 Top Hat
• 1982 The Best Is Yet To Come
• 1983 Romance Fire and Fancy
• 1983 What's New
• 1984 Lush Life
• 1985 Blue Skies
• 1986 'Round Midnight
• 1986 For Sentimental Reasons
• 1987 The Unreleased
• 19?? Music For Wives And Lovers

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Arranged by Nelson Riddle 1985, Warner Bros. Publications. (A textbook on arranging by Riddle. Includes biography and "Personal and Musical observations")
• September in the Rain: The Life of Nelson Riddle by Peter J. Levinson, 2001 ISBN 0-8230-7672-5

External links[link]

• Official Nelson Riddle website
• Official Nelson Riddle Blog
• Nelson Riddle Collection at the University of Arizona
• Nelson Riddle at Allmusic
• Nelson Riddle interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969).