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Helianthus annuus Sunflower
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Angiospermae
Phylum:	Magnoliophyta
Subdivision:	Eudicots
Class:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Subfamily:	Helianthoideae
Tribe:	Heliantheae
Genus:	Helianthus
Species:	H. annuus
Binomial name
Helianthus annuus L.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head). The sunflower is named after its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on a receptacle base. From the Americas, sunflower seeds were brought to Europe in the 16th century, where, along with sunflower oil, they became a widespread cooking ingredient. Leaves of the sunflower can be used as cattle feed, while the stems contain a fibre which may be used in paper production.

Description[link]

Head displaying florets in spirals of 34 and 55 around the outside

What is usually called the "flower" on a mature sunflower is actually a "flower head" (also known as a "composite flower") of numerous florets, (small flowers) crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets are the sterile ray florets and can be yellow, red, orange, or other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds.

The flower petals within the sunflower's cluster are usually in a a spiral pattern. Generally, each floret is oriented toward the next by approximately the golden angle, 137.5°, producing a pattern of interconnecting spirals, where the number of left spirals and the number of right spirals are successive Fibonacci numbers. Typically, there are 34 spirals in one direction and 55 in the other; on a very large sunflower there could be 89 in one direction and 144 in the other.^[1][2][3] This pattern produces the most efficient packing of seeds within the flower head.^[4][5][6]

Sunflowers most commonly grow to heights between 1.5 and 3.5 m (5–12 ft). Scientific literature^[who?] reports that a 12 m (40 ft), traditional, single-head, sunflower plant was grown in Padua in 1567. The same seed lot grew almost 8 m (26 ft) at other times and places, including Madrid.^{[citation needed]} During the 20th century, heights of over 8 m have been achieved in both the Netherlands and Ontario, Canada.^{[citation needed]}

Heliotropism[link]

Whole seed (right) and kernel with hull removed (left)

A common misconception is that sunflowers track the sun.^[7] In fact, mature flowerheads typically face east and do not move. The leaves and buds of young sunflowers do exhibit heliotropism (sun turning). Their orientation changes from east to west during the course of a day.^[8] The movements become a circadian response and when plants are rotated 180 degrees, the old response pattern is still followed for a few days, with leaf orientation changing from west to east instead.^[9] The leaf and flowerhead bud phototropism occurs while the leaf petioles and stems are still actively growing, but once mature, the movements stop. These movements involve the petioles bending or twisting during the day then unbending or untwisting at night.^[10]

History[link]

Sunflower field, Fargo, North Dakota

The evidence thus far is that the sunflower was first domesticated in Mesoamerica, present day Mexico, by at least 2600 BC.^[11] It may have been domesticated a second time in the middle Mississippi Valley, or been introduced there from Mexico at an early date, as maize was. The earliest known examples of a fully domesticated sunflower north of Mexico have been found in Tennessee, and date to around 2300 BC^{[citation needed]}. Many indigenous American peoples used the sunflower as the symbol of their solar deity, including the Aztecs and the Otomi of Mexico and the Incas in South America. Francisco Pizarro was the first European to encounter the sunflower in Tahuantinsuyo, Peru. Gold images of the flower, as well as seeds, were taken back to Spain early in the 16th century. Some researchers argue that the Spaniards tried to suppress cultivation of the sunflower because of its association with solar religion and warfare.^[12]

During the 18th century, the use of sunflower oil became very popular in Europe, particularly with members of the Russian Orthodox Church, because sunflower oil was one of the few oils that was not prohibited during Lent, according to some fasting traditions.

Cultivation and uses[link]

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Left frame

Right frame

Parallel view

Cross-eye view

Raw sunflower seeds, intended for planting.

Worldwide sunflower output

To grow best, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, moist, well-drained soil with heavy mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted 45 cm (1.5 ft) apart and 2.5 cm (1 in) deep. Sunflower "whole seed" (fruit) are sold as a snack food, raw or after roasting in ovens, with or without salt and/or seasonings added. Sunflowers can be processed into a peanut butter alternative, sunflower butter. In Germany, it is mixed with rye flour to make Sonnenblumenkernbrot (literally: sunflower whole seed bread), which is quite popular in German-speaking Europe. It is also sold as food for birds and can be used directly in cooking and salads. American Indians had multiple uses for sunflowers in the past, such as in bread, medical ointments, dyes and body paints.^{[citation needed]}

Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds, is used for cooking, as a carrier oil and to produce margarine and biodiesel, as it is cheaper than olive oil. A range of sunflower varieties exist with differing fatty acid compositions; some 'high oleic' types contain a higher level of monounsaturated fats in their oil than even olive oil.

Detail of disk florets

The cake remaining after the seeds have been processed for oil is used as a livestock feed. Some recently developed cultivars have drooping heads. These cultivars are less attractive to gardeners growing the flowers as ornamental plants, but appeal to farmers, because they reduce bird damage and losses from some plant diseases. Sunflowers also produce latex, and are the subject of experiments to improve their suitability as an alternative crop for producing hypoallergenic rubber.

Traditionally, several Native American groups planted sunflowers on the north edges of their gardens as a "fourth sister" to the better known three sisters combination of corn, beans, and squash.^[13] Annual species are often planted for their allelopathic properties.^{[citation needed]}

However, for commercial farmers growing commodity crops, the sunflower, like any other unwanted plant, is often considered a weed. Especially in the midwestern US, wild (perennial) species are often found in corn and soybean fields and can have a negative impact on yields.

Sunflowers can be used in phytoremediation to extract toxic ingredients from soil, such as lead, arsenic and uranium. They were used to remove cesium-137 and strontium-90 from a nearby pond after the Chernobyl disaster,^[14] and a similar campaign was mounted in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.^[15][16]

Sunflower genome[link]

The sunflower, Helianthus annuus, genome is diploid with a base chromosome number of 17 and an estimated genome size of 2871–3189 Mbp.^[17][18] Some sources claim its true size is around 3.5 billion base pairs (slightly larger than the human genome).^[19]

Mathematical model of floret arrangement[link]

Illustration of Vogel's model for n=1 ... 500

A model for the pattern of florets in the head of a sunflower was proposed by H. Vogel in 1979.^[20] This is expressed in polar coordinates

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): r = c \sqrt{n},

Failed to parse (Missing texvc executable; please see math/README to configure.): \theta = n \times 137.5^{\circ},

where θ is the angle, r is the radius or distance from the center, and n is the index number of the floret and c is a constant scaling factor. It is a form of Fermat's spiral. The angle 137.5° is related to the golden ratio (55/144 of a circular angle, where 55 and 144 are Fibonacci numbers) and gives a close packing of florets. This model has been used to produce computer graphics representations of sunflowers.^[21]

In culture[link]

• The sunflower is the state flower of the US state of Kansas, and one of the city flowers of Kitakyūshū, Japan.
• The sunflower is often used as a symbol of green ideology, much as the red rose is a symbol of socialism or social democracy. The sunflower is also the symbol of the Vegan Society.
• During the late 19th century, the flower was used as the symbol of the Aesthetic Movement.
• Subject of Van Gogh's most famous still life, Sunflowers
• The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine.
• The sunflower was chosen as the symbol of the Spiritualist Church for many reasons, but mostly because it turns toward the sun as "Spiritualism turns toward the light of truth". Modern Spiritualists often have art or jewelry with sunflower designs.^[22]
• Starting from February 2010, Kuban Airlines of Russia painted part of its fleet in a new livery featuring enormous sunflowers.^[23]

Varieties[link]

The 'Teddy Bear' variety

The following are varieties of sunflowers (in alphabetical order):

Other species[link]

There are many species in the sunflower genus Helianthus, and many species in other genera that may be called sunflowers.

• The Maximillian sunflower (Helianthus maximilianii) is one of 38 species of perennial sunflower native to North America. The Land Institute and other breeding programs are currently exploring the potential for these as a perennial seed crop.
• The sunchoke [1] (Jerusalem artichoke or Helianthus tuberosus) is related to the sunflower, another example of perennial sunflower.
• The Mexican sunflower is Tithonia rotundifolia. It is only very distantly related to North American sunflowers.
• False sunflower refers to plants of the genus Heliopsis.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Bumble bee sampling nectar

• 

  Sunflower seedlings, three days after germination

• 

  Sunflower in Spain

• 

  Fruiting head

• 

  Heads sold as snacks in China

• 

  Sunflower cultivated in Nepal

• 

  Sunflower stereoscopic crossview.

See also[link]

Look up sheller in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Carnitine
• List of sunflower diseases
• International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Pope, Kevin; Pohl, Mary E. D.; Jones, John G.; Lentz, David L.; von Nagy, Christopher; Vega, Francisco J.; Quitmyer Irvy R.; "Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica,"Science, 18 May 2001:Vol. 292. no. 5520, pp. 1370–1373.
• Shosteck, Robt. 1974. Flowers and Plants. An International Lexicon with Biographical Notes. Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co. 329 pp.
• Wood, Marcia. (June 2002.). "Sunflower Rubber? Agricultural Research.". USDA. http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun02/rubber0602.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-31. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sunflowers

Media related to Sunflower at Wikimedia Commons

• National Sunflower Association
• USDA-ERS Briefing Room - Sunflowerseed Summary of sunflower production, trade, and consumption and links to relevant USDA reports.
• Sunflower cultivation
• Home garden cultural information on growing sunflowers

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Paul Weller (born 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter. Starting with the band The Jam (1972–1982), Weller then went on to branch out musically to a more soulful style with The Style Council (1983–1989). In 1991 he established himself as a successful solo artist,^[1] and continues to remain a respected singer, lyricist and guitarist.^[2]

Despite widespread critical recognition, Weller has remained a national rather than an international star, and much of his songwriting is rooted in English culture. He is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 80s mod revival and is often referred to as the Modfather.^[3]

Early Life (1958–1975)[link]

Weller was born on 25 May 1958 in Sheerwater, near Woking, Surrey, England, to John and Ann Weller. He was initially known as John William Weller but later acquired the name Paul.^[4]

His father worked as a taxi driver and his mother was a part-time cleaner.^[5] In 1963 Weller started his education at Maybury County First School. His love of music started with The Beatles, then The Who and the Small Faces. By the time Weller was eleven and moving up to secondary school at Sheerwater County Secondary music was the biggest part of his life and he began playing the guitar.

In 1972 Weller formed the first incarnation of the Jam, playing bass guitar with his best friends Steve Brookes (lead guitar) and Dave Waller (rhythm guitar). Weller's father, their manager, began booking the band into local working men's clubs. Joined by Rick Buckler on drums, and with Bruce Foxton soon replacing Waller on rhythm guitar, the four-piece band began to forge a local reputation playing a mixture of Beatles covers and a number of compositions written by Weller and Brookes. In 1976 Brookes left the band and Weller and Foxton decided they would swap guitar roles, with Weller now the guitarist.

The Jam (1976–1982)[link]

Although the Jam emerged at the same time as punk rock bands such as The Clash, The Damned, and the Sex Pistols, the Jam better fitted the mould of the New Wave bands who came later. Also, being from just outside London rather than in it, they were never really part of the tightly-knit punk clique.

Nonetheless, The Clash emerged as one of the leading early advocates of the band, and were sufficiently impressed by the Jam to take them along as the support act on their White Riot tour of 1977. The Jam's first single "In the City" took them into the UK Top 40 for the first time in May 1977. Although every subsequent single had a placing within the Top 40, it would not be until the band released "The Eton Rifles", with Weller's very political lyrics, that they broke into the Top 10, hitting the No. 3 spot in November 1979.

The increasing popularity of their blend of pop melodies and Weller's barbed lyrics led, in March 1980, to their first number one single, "Going Underground".

They became the only band other than the Beatles to perform two songs ("Town Called Malice" and "Precious") on one edition of Top of the Pops. The Jam even had two singles, "That's Entertainment" and "Just Who Is The 5 O'Clock Hero", reach No. 21 and No. 8 respectively in the UK singles chart despite not even being released in that country – they got there purely on the strength of the huge number of people buying import sales of the German and Dutch single releases. The Jam still hold the record for the best selling import only singles in the UK charts. As the band's popularity increased, however, Weller became restless and eager to explore a more soulful, melodic style with a broader instrumentation.

In 1982, Weller announced that the Jam would disband at the end of the year. The announcement came as a shock to Foxton and Buckler, who felt that the band still had many years left. Their final single, "Beat Surrender", became their fourth UK chart topper, going straight to No. 1 in its first week. Their farewell concerts at Wembley Arena were multiple sell-outs; their final concert took place at the Brighton Centre on 11 December 1982.

The Style Council (1983–1989)[link]

At the beginning of 1983, Weller collaborated with keyboard player Mick Talbot to form a new group called The Style Council. Weller brought in Steve White to play drums, as well as singer Dee C. Lee, who had previously been a backing singer with Wham!

Free of the limited musical styles he felt imposed by The Jam, under the collective of the Style Council Weller was able to experiment with a wide range of music, from pop and jazz to soul/R&B, house and folk-styled ballads. The band was at the vanguard of a jazz/pop revival that would continue with the emergence of bands like Matt Bianco, Sade, and Everything but the Girl, whose members Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt contributed vocals and guitar to the 1984 the Style Council song "Paris Match".

Many of the Style Council's early singles performed well in the charts, and Weller experienced his first success in North America, when "My Ever Changing Moods" and "You're The Best Thing" entered the US Billboard Hot 100. In Australia they were far more successful than the Jam, reaching the top of the charts in 1984 with "Shout To The Top".

Weller appeared on 1984's Band Aid record "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and was called upon to mime the absent Bono's lyrics on Top of the Pops. The Style Council were the second act to appear in the British half of Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985.

In December 1984, Weller put together his own charity ensemble, the Council Collective, to make a record, "Soul Deep", to raise money for striking miners. The record featured the Style Council plus a number of other performers, notably Jimmy Ruffin and Junior Giscombe. In spite of the song's political content, it still picked up BBC Radio 1 airplay and was performed on Top of the Pops, which led to the incongruous sight of lyrics such as "We can't afford to let the government win / It means death to the trade unions" being mimed amid the show's flashing lights and party atmosphere.

As the 1980s wore on, the Style Council's popularity in the UK began to slide, with the band achieving only one top ten single after 1985. The Style Council's death knell was sounded in 1989 when their record company refused to release their fifth and final studio album, the house-influenced Modernism: A New Decade. With the rejection of this effort, Weller announced the Style Council had split, and although the final album did have a limited vinyl run, it was not until the 1998 retrospective CD box set The Complete Adventures of the Style Council that the album was widely available.

Solo career[link]

Early solo career (1990–1995)[link]

In 1989, Weller found himself for the first time since he was 17 without a band and without a recording deal. After taking time off throughout 1990, he returned to the road in 1991, touring as 'The Paul Weller Movement' with long-term drummer and friend Steve White. After a slow start playing small clubs with a mixture of Jam/Style Council classics as well as showcasing new material such as "Into Tomorrow", by the time of the release of his 1992 LP, Paul Weller, he had begun to re-establish himself as a leading British singer/songwriter. This self-titled album saw a return to a more jazz-guitar-focused sound, featuring samples and a funk influence with shades of the Style Council sound. The album also featured a new producer, Brendan Lynch. Tracks such as "Here's a New Thing" and "That Spiritual Feeling" were marketed among the emerging acid jazz scene.

Buoyed by the positive commercial and critical success of his first solo album, Weller returned to the studio in 1993 with a renewed confidence. Accompanied by Steve White, guitarist Steve Cradock, and bassist Damon Minchella, the result of these sessions was the triumphant Mercury Music Prize-nominated Wild Wood.^[6]

His 1995 album Stanley Road took him back to the top of the British charts for the first time in a decade, and went on to become the best-selling album of his career. The album, named after the street in Woking where he had grown up, marked a return to the more guitar-based style of his earlier days. On the track "I Walk On Guilded Splinters", Noel Gallagher (of Oasis), is creditted guest guitarist.^[7] Weller found himself heavily associated with the Britpop movement that gave rise to such bands as Oasis, Pulp and Blur. Weller even appeared as a guest guitarist and backing vocalist on Oasis' hit song "Champagne Supernova". The album's major single, "The Changingman", was also a big hit, taking Weller to No. 7 in the UK singles charts. Another single, the ballad "You Do Something To Me", was his second consecutive Top 10 single and reached No. 9 in the UK.

The Modfather (1996–2007)[link]

Heavy Soul, the follow-up to the million-selling Stanley Road, saw Weller twist his sound again. The album was more raw than its predecessor; Weller was now frequently playing live in the studio in as few takes as possible.^{[citation needed]} The first single, "Peacock Suit" reached No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart, and the album reached #2. Success in the charts also came from compilations: "best of" albums by the Jam and Style Council charted, and his own solo "best of" collection Modern Classics was a substantial success in 1998.

In 2000, while living in Send, Surrey, he released his fifth solo studio album, Heliocentric. There were rumours at the time that this would be his final studio effort, but these proved unfounded when he released the No. 1 hit album Illumination in September 2002 which was co-produced by Noonday Underground's Simon Dine, preceded by yet another top 10 hit single "It's Written In The Stars". Weller also appears on the 2002 Noonday Underground album called Surface Noise, singing on the track "I'll Walk Right On". Between these two albums he had also released a second successful live album, 2001's Days Of Speed, which contained live acoustic versions from his world tour of the same name. The LP included some of his best-known songs from his solo career and the back catalogues of his the Jam and the Style Council days. Weller had again found himself without a record contract and the tour provided him with the opportunity to view his works as one back catalogue.

In 2003, Weller teamed up with electronic rock duo Death in Vegas on a cover of Gene Clark's "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" which featured on the album Scorpio Rising.

In 2004 Weller released an album of covers entitled Studio 150. It debuted at No. 2 in the UK charts and included Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" besides covers of songs by Gil Scott-Heron, Rose Royce, Gordon Lightfoot, and others.

His 2005 album As Is Now featured the singles "From The Floorboards Up", "Come On/Let's Go" and "Here's The Good News". The album was well-received, though critics noted that he was not moving his music forward stylistically,^[8] and it became his lowest-charting album since his 1992 debut. In February 2006 it was announced that Weller would be the latest recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BRIT Awards. Despite a tendency to shun such occasions, Weller accepted the award in person, and performed four songs at the ceremony, including the Jam classic "Town Called Malice".

In June 2006, a double live album titled Catch-Flame!, with songs from both his solo work and his career with the Jam and the Style Council, was released. In late 2006, the album Hit Parade was released, which collected all the singles released by the Jam, Style Council and Weller during his solo career. Two versions of this album were released: a single disc with a selection from each stage of his career, and a four-disc limited edition, which included every single released and came with a 64-page booklet.

Weller was offered a CBE in the 2006 birthday honours, but rejected the order.^[9]

Critical success (2008 – present)[link]

Weller and band line-up in Cardiff

The double album 22 Dreams was released on 2 June 2008 with "Echoes Round The Sun" as the lead single. Before recording this album, Weller had parted company with his existing band, resulting in the replacement of everyone except guitarist Steve Cradock. As well as Cradock, the new band consisted of Andy Lewis on bass, Andy Crofts of The Moons on keys and Steve Pilgrim of The Stands on drums. This album saw Weller move in a more experimental direction, taking in a wide variety of inflences including jazz, folk, tango as well as pop-soul more associated with his Style Council days.

Weller was the surprise recipient of the 2009 BRIT award for "Best Male Solo Artist", which resulted in controversy when it was discovered a suspiciously high number of bets had been placed for Weller to win the award, for which James Morrison was T4's favourite. It was reported that the bookmakers had lost £100,000 in the event, and that as a result would not be taking bets for the awards in the future.^[10]

In 2009 Weller guested on Dot Allison's 2009 album, Room 7½, co-writing "Love's Got Me Crazy".^[11] November and December also saw him on tour, playing shows across the country.^[12]

On 24 February 2010, Paul received the Godlike Genius Award at the NME Awards.^[13] His 2010 album, Wake Up the Nation, released in April, was met with critical acclaim and subsequently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.^[14] The album also marked his first collaboration with the Jam bassist Bruce Foxton in 28 years.^[15] In May 2010 Weller was presented with the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award, saying "I've enjoyed the last 33 years I've been writing songs and hopefully, with God's good grace, I'll do some more."^[16]

On 22 November 2011, Weller announced his eleventh studio album "Sonik Kicks", which was released on 19 March 2012.

His current band line-up consists of Steve Cradock, Andy Lewis, Andy Crofts and Steve Pilgrim.

Personal life[link]

Soon after the formation of The Style Council, Weller and Dee C. Lee, the Style Council's backing singer, began a romantic relationship. The couple married in 1987 and divorced in 1998. They have two children Leah and Nathaniel (Natt), who is also a working musician and once appeared on stage with his father at Hammersmith Apollo at age 12.^[17] Weller has another daughter, Dylan, by a short-lived relationship with a make-up artist called Lucy.^[18]

While he was recording at the Manor studios in the mid 1990s, he became involved with Samantha Stock. They have two children.^[19] In October 2008 they broke up and Weller moved in with Hannah Andrews, a backing singer on his 22 Dreams album, who has toured with his band. The pair married in September 2010 on the Italian island of Capri.^[20] The couple welcomed twin boys, John Paul and Bowie on 14 January 2012.^[21]

On 24 April 2009, John Weller, Paul Weller's father and long-time manager since the days of the Jam, died from pneumonia at the age of 77.^[22]

Musical style and legacy[link]

Weller's stated influences range widely, including The Beatles, Dr Feelgood, The Kinks, The Who, Small Faces and 1960s and 1970s soul music.

During the Britpop explosion in the mid-1990s a number of bands, such as Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene and Blur cited Weller and The Jam as a major influence. More recent generations of bands have also noted Weller as an inspiration, including Hard-Fi, Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy, The Rifles and The Moons.

David Lines' memoir, The Modfather, documented his life growing up in Garforth, Leeds, and his adolescent obsession with Paul Weller.^[23]

Solo discography[link]

Studio albums

• Paul Weller (1992)
• Wild Wood (1993)
• Stanley Road (1995)
• Heavy Soul (1997)
• Heliocentric (2000)
• Illumination (2002)
• Studio 150 (2004)
• As Is Now (2005)
• 22 Dreams (2008)
• Wake Up the Nation (2010)
• Sonik Kicks (2012)

References[link]

[edit] Further reading

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Paul Weller

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Paul Weller

• Paul Weller dot Com (Paul Weller's official website)
• The Moons (official website)

Enrico Nicola "Henry" Mancini (April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994)^[1] was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards (20), plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995. His best-known works include the jazz-idiom theme to The Pink Panther film series ("The Pink Panther Theme"), the Peter Gunn Theme from the television series, and back-to-back Academy Awards for the songs "Moon River" from the Blake Edwards film Breakfast at Tiffany's and "Days of Wine and Roses" from Edwards' film Days of Wine and Roses. He also composed the score of famous films such as Charade, The Great Race, Wait Until Dark or Silver Streak.

Early life[link]

Mancini was born in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, and grew up near Pittsburgh, in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Mancini's father, Quinto, (born March 13, 1893, Scanno, Italy) was a steelworker, who made his only child begin piccolo lessons at the age of eight.^[2] When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After graduating from Aliquippa High School in 1942, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a concentration camp in southern Germany.

Career[link]

Newly discharged, Mancini entered the music industry. Entering 1946, he became a pianist and arranger for the newly re-formed Glenn Miller Orchestra, led by 'Everyman' Tex Beneke. After World War II, Mancini broadened his skills in composition, counterpoint, harmony and orchestration during studies opening with the composers Ernst Krenek and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.^[3]

In 1952, Mancini joined the Universal Pictures music department. During the next six years, he contributed music to over 100 movies, most notably The Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space, Tarantula, This Island Earth, The Glenn Miller Story (for which he received his first Academy Award nomination), The Benny Goodman Story and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. During this time, he also wrote some popular songs. His first hit was a single by Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians titled I Won't Let You Out of My Heart.

Mancini left Universal-International to work as an independent composer/arranger in 1958. Soon after, he scored the television series Peter Gunn^[2] for writer/producer Blake Edwards. This was the genesis of a relationship in which Edwards and Mancini collaborated on 30 films over 35 years. Along with Alex North, Elmer Bernstein, Leith Stevens and Johnny Mandel, Henry Mancini was a pioneer of the inclusion of jazz elements in the late romantic orchestral film and TV scoring prevalent at the time.

Mancini's scores for Blake Edwards included Breakfast at Tiffany's (with the standard "Moon River")^[2] and Days of Wine and Roses (with the title song, "Days of Wine and Roses"), as well as Experiment in Terror, The Pink Panther (and all of its sequels), The Great Race, The Party, and Victor Victoria. Another director with whom Mancini had a longstanding partnership was Stanley Donen (Charade, Arabesque, Two for the Road). Mancini also composed for Howard Hawks (Man's Favorite Sport?, Hatari! – which included the well-known "Baby Elephant Walk"), Martin Ritt (The Molly Maguires), Vittorio de Sica (Sunflower), Norman Jewison (Gaily, Gaily), Paul Newman (Sometimes a Great Notion, The Glass Menagerie), Stanley Kramer (Oklahoma Crude), George Roy Hill (The Great Waldo Pepper), Arthur Hiller (Silver Streak),^[4] Ted Kotcheff (Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?), and others. Mancini's score for the Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy (1972) in in Bachian organ andante, for organ and an orchestra of strings was rejected and replaced by Ron Goodwin's work.

Mancini scored many TV movies, including The Thorn Birds and The Shadow Box. He wrote many television themes, including Mr. Lucky (starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin), NBC Mystery Movie,^[5] What's Happening!!,^[6] Tic Tac Dough (1990 version)^{[citation needed]} and Once Is Not Enough. In the 1984–85 television season, four series featured original Mancini themes: Newhart, Hotel, Remington Steele, and Ripley's Believe It or Not. Mancini also composed the "Viewer Mail" theme for Late Night with David Letterman.^[5] Mancini composed the theme for NBC Nightly News used beginning in 1975, and a different theme by him, titled Salute to the President was used by NBC News for its election coverage (including primaries and conventions) from 1976 to 1992. Salute to the President was only published in a school-band arrangement, although Mancini performed it frequently with symphony orchestras on his concert tours.

Songs with music by Mancini were staples of the easy-listening genre from the 60s to the 80s. Some of the artists who have recorded Mancini songs include Andy Williams, Paul Anka, Pat Boone, Anita Bryant, Jack Jones, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Connie Francis, Eydie Gorme, Steve Lawrence, Trini Lopez, George Maharis, Johnny Mathis, Jerry Vale, Ray Conniff, The Lennon Sisters, The Lettermen, Herb Alpert, Eddie Cano, Frank Chacksfield, Warren Covington, Percy Faith, Ferrante & Teicher, Horst Jankowski, Andre Kostelanetz, Peter Nero, Liberace, Mantovani, Tony Bennett, Julie London, Wayne Newton, Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Al Martino, Jim Nabors, and Matt Monro. Lawrence Welk held Mancini in very high regard, and frequently featured Mancini's music on The Lawrence Welk Show (Mancini made at least one guest appearance on the show).

Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to light classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name artists of easy-listening music. Mancini's earliest recordings in the 1950s and early 1960s were of the jazz idiom; with the success of Peter Gunn, Mr. Lucky, and Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mancini shifted to primarily recording his own music in record albums and film soundtracks. (Relatively little of his music was written for recordings compared to the amount that was written for film and television.) Beginning with his 1969 hit A Time for Us (Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet) and its accompanying album A Warm Shade of Ivory, Mancini began to function more as a piano soloist and easy-listening artist primarily recording music written by other people. In this period, for two of his best-selling albums he was joined by trumpet virtuoso and Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen.

Among Mancini's orchestral scores are (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians), and darker themes (Experiment in Terror, The White Dawn, Wait Until Dark, The Night Visitor).

Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. He conducted nearly all of the leading symphonies of the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. One of his favorites was the Minnesota Orchestra, where he debuted the Thorn Birds Suite in June 1983. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and also with Andy Williams, who had each sung many of Mancini's songs; Mathis and Mancini collaborated on the 1986 album The Hollywood Musicals.

Cameos[link]

Mancini occasionally acted in cameo and voice roles.

Shortly before his death in 1994, he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?"^[7] Moments after Mancini's cameo ends, Frasier's radio broadcast plays "Moon River" to underscore a particularly heartfelt apology.

Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.

In the 1966 Pink Panther cartoon Pink, Plunk, Plink, the panther commandeered an orchestra and proceeded to conduct Mancini's theme for the series. At the end, the shot switched to rare live action, and Mancini was seen alone applauding in the audience.

Death and legacy[link]

Mancini died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on June 14, 1994. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria, which he never saw on stage. Mancini was survived by his wife of 43 years, singer Virginia "Ginny" O'Connor, with whom he had three children. They had met while both were members of the Tex Beneke orchestra, just after World War II. In 1948, Ginny was one of the founders of the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts. One of Mancini's twin daughters, Monica Mancini, is a professional singer; her sister Felice runs The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (MHOF). His son Christopher is a music publisher and promoter in Los Angeles.

In 1996, the Henry Mancini Institute, an academy for young music professionals, was founded by Jack Elliott in Mancini's honor, and was later under the direction of composer-conductor Patrick Williams. By the mid 2000s, however, the institute could not sustain itself and closed its doors on December 30, 2006.^{[citation needed]} However, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001. While still alive, Henry created a scholarship at UCLA and the bulk of his library and works are archived in the music library at UCLA.

In 2005, the Henry Mancini Arts Academy was opened as a division of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. The Center is located in Midland, Pennsylvania, minutes away from Mancini's hometown of Aliquippa. The Henry Mancini Arts Academy is an evening-and-weekend performing arts program for children from pre-K to grade 12, with some classes also available for adults. The program includes dance, voice, musical theater, and instrumental lessons.

The American Film Institute ranked Mancini's songs Moon River in the No. 4 and Days of wine and roses in No. 39 on their list of the greatest songs and his score forThe Pink Panther No. 20 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:

• Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
• Charade (1963)
• Hatari! (1962)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Wait Until Dark (1967)

Awards[link]

Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20.^[8] Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four.^[9] He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.

Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 for his original score of The Glenn Miller Story, on which he collaborated with Joseph Gershenson. He lost out to Adolph Deutsch and Saul Chaplin's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In 1962, he was nominated in the Best Music, Original Song category for "Bachelor in Paradise" from the film of the same name, in collaboration with lyricist Mack David. That song did not win. However, Mancini did receive two Oscars that year: one in the same category, for the song "Moon River" (shared with lyricist Johnny Mercer), and one for "Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for Breakfast at Tiffany's. The following year, he and Mercer took another Best Original Song award for "Days of Wine and Roses",^[2] another eponymous theme song. His next eleven nominations went for naught, but he finally garnered one last statuette working with lyricist Leslie Bricusse on the score for Victor Victoria, which won the Academy Award for "Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score". All three of the films for which he won were directed by Blake Edwards. His score for Victor/Victoria was adapted for the 1995 Broadway musical of the same name.

On April 13, 2004, the United States Postal Service honored Mancini with a 37 cent commemorative stamp. The stamp shows Mancini conducting with a list of some of his most famous movies and TV show themes in the background and was painted by artist Victor Stabin.^[10] The stamp is Scott catalog number 3839.

Discography[link]

Hit singles[link]

Albums[link]

• The Versatile Henry Mancini, Liberty LRP 3121
• The Mancini Touch, RCA Victor LSP 2101
• The Blues & the Beat, RCA Victor LSP-2147
• Mr. Lucky Goes Latin, RCA Victor LSP-2360
• Our Man in Hollywood, RCA Victor LSP-2604
• Uniquely Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2692
• The Best of Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2693
• Mancini Plays Mancini, RCA Camden CAS-2158
• Everybody's Favorite, RCA Camden CXS-9034
• Concert Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-2897
• Dear Heart and Other Songs, RCA Victor LSP-2990
• Theme Scene, RCA Victor LSP-3052
• Debut Conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra, RCA Victor LSP-3106
• The Best of Vol. 3, RCA Victor LSP-3347
• The Latin Sound of Henry Mancini, RCA Victor LSP-3356
• A Merry Mancini Christmas, RCA Victor LSP-3612
• Pure Gold, RCA Victor LSP-3667
• Mancini Country, RCA Victor LSP-3668
• Mancini '67, RCA Victor LSP-3694
• Music of Hawaii, RCA Victor LSP-3713
• Brass on Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3756
• A Warm Shade of Ivory, RCA Victor LSP-3757
• Big Latin Band, RCA Victor LSP-4049
• Six Hours Past Sunset, RCA Victor LSP-4239
• Theme music from Z & Other Film Music, RCA Victor LSP-4350
• Big Screen-Little Screen, RCA Victor LSP-4630
• This Is Henry Mancini, RCA Victor VPS6029
• Music from the TV Series "The Mancini Generation", RCA Victor LSP-4689
• The Academy Award Songs, RCA Victor LSP-6013
• Brass, Ivory & Strings (with Doc Severinsen), RCA APL1-0098
• The Theme Scene, RCA AQLI-3052
• Country Gentleman, RCA APD1-0270 (Quadraphonic)
• Hangin' Out, RCA CPL1-0672
• Symphonic Soul, RCA APD1-1025 (Quadraphonic)
• Mancini's Angels, RCA CPL1-2290
• (with Johnny Mathis), The Hollywood Musicals, Columbia FC 40372
• The Pink Panther Meets Speedy Gonzales, Koch Schwann CD
• The Legendary Henry Mancini, BMG Australia 3 CD set

Soundtracks[link]

Many of Mancini's "soundtracks" are actually "Music from ...", which allowed him to arrange the music to be more accessible and to release records without the expense of paying studio orchestra fees._{<citation needed>}

• The Music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP-1956
• More Music from Peter Gunn, RCA Victor LSP-2040
• Music from Mr. Lucky, RCA Victor LSP-2198
• Bachelor in Paradise, Film Score Monthly FSMCD vol. 7 Nr. 18
• High Time, RCA Victor LSP-2314
• Breakfast at Tiffany's: Music from the Motion Picture, RCA Victor LSP-2362
• A Change of Seasons
• Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Intrada special collection vol. 11
• Experiment in Terror, RCA Victor LSP-2442
• Hatari!, RCA Victor LSP-2559
• Charade, RCA Victor LSP-2755
• The Pink Panther, RCA Victor LSP 2795
• The Great Race, RCA Victor LSP-3402
• Arabesque, RCA Victor LSP-3623
• What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?, RCA Victor LSP-3648
• Two for the Road, RCA Victor LSP-3802
• Gunn, RCA Victor LSP-3840
• The Party, RCA Victor LSP-3997
• Me, Natalie, Columbia OS 3350
• Darling Lili, RCA LSPX-1000
• Visions of Eight, RCA Victor ABL1-0231
• The Great Waldo Pepper, MCA 2085
• Gaily, Gaily, UAS 5202
• The Glass Menagerie, MCA MCAD 6222
• The Great Mouse Detective, Varèse Sarabande VSD 5359
• The Hawaiians, UAS 5210
• Lifeforce, BSXCD 8844
• The Molly Maguires, Bay Cities BCD 3029
• Nightwing
• Oklahoma Crude, RCA APL1 0271
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again, UA-LA 694
• Revenge of the Pink Panther, EMI 791113-2
• Santa Claus: The Movie, EMI SJ 17177
• Silver Streak, Intrada special collection vol. 5
• Sometimes a Great Notion, Decca DL 79185
• Son of the Pink Panther, Milan 21-16461-2
• Sunflower, SLC SLCS 7035
• The Thief Who Came to Dinner, WB BS 2700
• The Thorn Birds, Varèse Sarabande 30206 65642 8
• Tom and Jerry – The Movie, MCA MCD 10721
• Touch of Evil, Movie Sound MSCD 401
• Victor Victoria, GNP Crescendo GNPD 8038
• W.C. Fields and Me, MCA 2092
• Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, Epic SE 35692
• Without a Clue

Filmography[link]

(not completed)

• The Glenn Miller Story - 1953
• Abbott and Costello Go to Mars - 1953
• Law and Order (1953 film) - 1953
• City Beneath the Sea (1953 film) - 1953
• Destry (film) - 1954
• The Private War of Major Benson - 1955
• Tarantula (film) - 1955
• This Island Earth - 1955
• Mister Cory - 1957
• Touch of Evil - 1958
• High Time (film) - 1960
• Bachelor in Paradise - 1961
• The Great Impostor - 1961
• Breakfast at Tiffany's - 1961
• Days of Wine and Roses - 1962
• Hatari! - 1962
• Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation - 1962
• Experiment in Terror - 1962
• The Pink Panther - 1963
• Charade Universal Studios - 1963
• A Shot in the Dark - 1964
• A Shot in the Dark - 1964
• Man's Favorite Sport? - 1964
• The Great Race - 1965
• Moment to Moment - 1965
• Arabesque - 1966
• What Did you Do in the War, Daddy? - 1966
• Two for the Road (1967 film) 1967
• Wait Until Dark (film) - 1967
• The Party - 1968
• Gaily, Gaily - 1969
• Sometimes a Great Notion - 1970
• The Hawaiians - 1970
• The Molly Maguires - 1970
• Frenzy (Rejected Score) - 1972
• the thief who came to dinner - 1973
• The White Dawn- 1974
• The Return of the Pink Panther - 1975
• The Great Waldo Pepper - 1975
• Silver Streak (film) - 1976
• W.C. Fields and Me - 1976
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again - 1976
• Revenge of the Pink Panther - 1978
• 10 (film) - 1979
• Mommie Dearest- 1981
• Victor Victoria - 1982
• Trail of the Pink Panther - 1982
• Curse of the Pink Panther - 1983
• The Great Mouse Detective – Walt Disney Pictures 1986
• That's Life! - 1986
• Blind Date (1987 film) - 1987
• Without a Clue - 1988
• Physical Evidence - 1989
• Ghost Dad – Universal Studios 1990
• Fear - 1990
• Switch - 1991
• Tom and Jerry: The Movie – Turner Pictures - 1992
• Son of the Pink Panther - 1993

Bibliography[link]

• Mancini, Henry: Sounds And Scores: a practical guide to professional orchestration (Book on orchestration of popular music, 1962)
• Mancini, Henry: Did they mention the music? (Autobiography, with Gene Lees, 1989)
• Thomas, Tony: Music For The Movies (1973)
• Thomas, Tony: Film Score (1979)
• Larson, Randall: 'Henry Mancini: On Scoring Lifeforce and Santa Claus' (interview)(in: CinemaScore, No. 15, 1987)
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'An interview with Henry Mancini' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 7, No. 26, 1988)
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 50, 1994)
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini remembered' (in: Soundtrack, vol. 13, No. 51)
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'Whistling Away The Dark' In: Film Score Monthly, # 45, p. 7
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'Henry Mancini 1924–1994' In: Film Score Monthly, # 46/47, p. 5
• Büdinger, Matthias: 'Feeling Fancy Free' (in: Film Score Monthly, vol. 10, No. 2)
• Brown, Royal S.: Overtones and undertones – reading film music (1994)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Henry Mancini at the Internet Movie Database
• Henry Mancini at the Internet Broadway Database
• Henry Mancini at Allmusic
• Henry Mancini, Space Age Pop
• A Henry Mancini discography
• Joe Reisman scores, 1945–1986 Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Henry Mancini, Soundtrackinfo
• A Mancini anthology
• Memories of Henry Mancini
• The story behind the making of the music from Peter Gunn, including interviews with the musicians and sound engineers
• Henry Mancini interview recorded 5.9.1968 on the Pop Chronicles