Steele may refer to:

Places[link]

• Steele, Alabama
• Steele, Missouri
• Steele, North Dakota
• Steele City, Nebraska
• Steele Township (disambiguation)
• Steele County, Minnesota
• Steele County, North Dakota
• Steele, Germany, a town in Germany
• Fort Steele, British Columbia, Canada
• Lonetree, Montana, a community also called "Steele"

Other uses[link]

• Steele (rapper)
• Steele Retchless, Australian rugby league footballer
• Steele Sidebottom, Australian rules football player (Collingwood)
• Virgin Steele, US rock band

See also[link]

• Steele (surname) for a list of people with the name
• Mount Steele, Canadian mountain
• Remington Steele, US TV series
• Steele Prize, awards given by the American Mathematical Society
• USS Steele (DE-8)
• Steel (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Virgin Steele
David DeFeis and Edward Pursino
Background information
Origin	Long Island, New York, USA
Genres	Hard rock (early), heavy metal, power metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1981–present
Labels	SPV/Steamhammer, Dockyard1, T&T/Noise Records
Website	www.virgin-steele.com
Members
David DeFeis Edward Pursino Frank Gilchriest Josh Block
Past members
Rob DeMartino Joey Ayvazian Joe "O"Reilly Jack Starr

Virgin Steele is a heavy metal band from New York, originally formed in 1981.

The band released a few career highlights albums (Noble Savage, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II and Invictus). In recent years, they have enriched their sound with elements of musical theatre, progressive and symphonic metal, developing and writing projects such as the Metal Opera "The House of Atreus" (based on Oresteia and the Greek myth related to the Atreides) in 1999/2000 and the soundtrack for an imaginary movie Visions of Eden (A Barbaric Romantic Movie of the Mind) aka "The Lilith Project" (based on the Sumerian legend of Lilith) in 2006.

Barbaric Romanticism[link]

Barbaric Romantic Music[link]

Virgin Steele play what they call "barbaric romanticism" ^[1] which is a symphonic, romantic and bombastic music with many elements taken from classical music and fantasy/mythological lyrics based on real life events.

David DeFeis (all vocals, keyboards, orchestration, synth bass, swords and effects) about Virgin Steele's music: "From a whisper to a scream, barbaric, romantic, bombastic, yet subtle, grandiose, yet earthy. A call, a shout, an invocation to Freedom and the continual awakening to the awareness that every moment of life is lived to its fullest potential. It is a force, a sacred quest which drives Virgin Steele on".^[2]

Typically, during Virgin Steele's concerts a sword is burnt on stage.^[3]

In some special show they used to play a truly long live set called "Three hour extravaganza".^[4]

Fans consider "The Burning of Rome (Cry for Pompeii)" and "Emalaith" some of the most representative songs of the band.^[5]

Barbaric Romantic Synopsis[link]

Many Virgin Steele songs are mythological, often dealing with subjects from Greek and Christian mythology. Most of their albums are concept albums.

The later albums tend to be more epic and mythological while, on the early albums (up till Life Among the Ruins), many songs are more real-life based stories of love and sex.

According to David DeFeis, all the lyrics he writes are based on real life in some form or another.^[6]

Metal Opera & Theatre[link]

A Metal Opera is a mix between Rock opera, Broadway style and "Heavy metal adapted for theater's actors live performances".^[7]

According with German artists Walter Weyers ^[8] and Martina Krawulsky, with the name "Klytaimnestra": "The House of Atreus" Metal Opera (musically available on the Virgin Steele's albums The House of Atreus Act I, The House of Atreus Act II) was performed on stage in Germany theaters by Landestheater Production.^[9]
The result, very different from a heavy metal concert, is a metal based dark Broadway style musical really powerful and energetic with actors only.^[10]

The premiere of "Klytaimnestra" in Memmingen, the 5th June 1999,^[11] has been the first ever regular musical theatre show based on heavy metal concepts.

After "Klytaimnestra" success, David DeFeis & Landestheater Production extracted a second Metal Opera musical, named "The Rebels", from the previous Marriage of Heaven and Hell trilogy ("The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I", "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II", "Invictus").^[12]

In 2003, the same team released a third Metal Opera, named "Lilith", based on the material of album Visions of Eden. "Visons of Eden" was later on published in CD in 2006. In a different way to the previous two Operas, David DeFeis declared: "I don't think of it as a Metal Opera. What it really is, is the soundtrack for a major motion picture that has yet to be made! And by the hammer of Zeus, I will make this film one day. I call this work a Barbaric Romantic movie of the mind.".^[13]

Biography[link]

The origins[link]

At the beginning of the Eighties, Jack Starr (a guitarist of French origins) was looking for the right elements to form the ultimate heavy metal band. The first to answer his call was drummer Joey Ayvazian and together they started jamming and auditioning singers. They auditioned around 40 singers before David DeFeis was introduced to Jack by a friend of Joey.
With an astounding interpretation of "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin, "Child in Time" by Deep Purple and "Catch the Rainbow" by Rainbow, David got the vacant role of singer, bringing with him bassist Joe O'Reilly.^[14] At the end of 1981 the first line-up was ready.

The debut[link]

Virgin Steele debuted in 1982 with "Children of the Storm" (a song loved by Metallica ^[14]), included in the compilation "U.S. Metal Vol. II".^[15] A bit later they issued their self-titled first album. Their style was and remains very original, a melding of American heavy metal and Rainbow's epic atmospheres. David, who also plays piano and keyboards, shows a particular liking for pompous and melodic arrangements, while Jack goes for a harder and more immediate assault.

Fan mail was becoming more interesting. Two letters in particular stand out, one from a young band, who were from Seattle. Their name was - Queensryche.^[14] The other, from California, also a band, who called themselves Metallica.^[14]

The second album[link]

The following year (1983) the second album Guardians Of The Flame was supported by a mini LP called Wait for the Night ("A Cry in the Night" in the European version).

After the album, Jack Starr started recording his first solo album, Out of the Darkness. Meanwhile DeFeis continued the band with Edward Purisno. As stated in the Virgin Steele's website "we never actually asked Edward to join the band, he just came down one day and never left".^[14]) After a lawsuit won by Starr over the name Virgin Steele, he sold it to DeFeis.

Noble Savage and Age Of Consent[link]

Supported by Pursino, whose style prefectly fit DeFeis' songwriting more than the Starr's one, Virgin Steele new lineup recorded Noble Savage, which melts classic and epic music. Today, this album is still considered one of the most important manifests of heavy and epic metal worldwide.^{[16][17][18][19][20]}

Between 1985 and 1986, some members of Virgin Steele strongly contributed to an album published under the name Exorcist called Nightmare Theatre ^[21] and to an album published under the name Piledriver called Stay Ugly.^[22] David DeFeis only produced and helped these albums even if some rumors said that he and Pursino were behind these bands.^[21]

Finally, the band managed to go to Europe, supporting Manowar on tour and gaining great approval from all quarters because of their live performances.^[23] When things started to come together, though, some inexplicable laws seemed to apply ^[14] and the following album, Age of Consent, got a very narrow distribution and ended up a complete commercial failure. At this point, Virgin Steele were in their darkest period: their label shut down and Joe O'Reilly decided to leave, forcing the band to stop playing for a while. During this break, David DeFeis graduated in piano and composition and played live with a semi-improvised band called "Smoke Stark Lightning", featuring some famous musicians like his old mate Jack Starr and drummer Bobby Rondinelli.^[24]

The come-back[link]

In 1993, Rob De Martino was chosen as the new bass player and Virgin Steele came back with Life Among the Ruins, an album of Whitesnake-influenced hard rock with a strong bluesy vein. The song "Last rose of Summer" is the highlight of the cd.^[25] Featuring none of the trademark epic and mythology-based elements of the band, Life Among the Ruins is probably the most atypical release in the Virgin Steele discography and disliked by many die-hard classic metal fans.^[25] Quite interesting is the fact the American version has got a different cover and a bonus-track called "Snakeskin Voodoo Man" (published as a stand-alone single too) while many video-clips, taken from this album, were included into the home-video "Tale Of The Snakeskin Voodoo Man".

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell[link]

One year later, the band returned to the original sound with The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I, an album of epic metal full of melodic and symphonic influences, very progressive oriented. This work (a concept regarding the different side of human nature) includes, among the others, the song "Life Among the Ruins" which is not related to the previous album with the same title.
Virgin Steele went back to Europe supporting Manowar and Uriah Heep and at the end of 1995 released The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II, following the concept and the style of the first one.

The band appeared also on the compilation A Tribute to Judas Priest: Legends of Metal - Volume II playing a raw cover of the song "Screaming for Vengeance". Another Judas Priest cover "Desert Plains" is included, as bonus-track, into the Age of Consent album reissue.

After another European tour (this time as headliner) in 1996, a new album was released in March 1998: the third and final chapter of the "Marriage" saga, titled Invictus. This was their heaviest album at the time and also very epic.^[26][27] Lyrically it is a concept album about humanity's rebellion against a pantheon of evil, uncaring gods.

The band played at the Wacken Open Air festival in 1997 and in 1998.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell trilogy signs also the debut of drummer Frank Gilchriest.

Always in 1998, Virgin Steele headlined a real long new European tour with Mark Reale's Riot and Stigmata IV as supporting acts. This tour included the headliner performance at the Biker festival "Motorock" in Cremona (Italy).^[28]

The Metal Opera[link]

Between the years 1999 and 2000, the band released the never done before project of a Metal Opera, writing the albums The House of Atreus Act I and The House of Atreus Act II, intended to be played by actors in theaters. The subject of the Metal Opera was Oresteia and the Greek myths related by Aeschylus, very familiar to David DeFeis, because of his father's theaterical background.^[29] On the albums all vocals and orchestrations are managed by David DeFeis himself.

Just before The House of Atreus Act II, the single "Magick Fire Music" was published, with some Metal Opera outtakes. Inspired by Virgin Steele's Metal Opera, the German band Tobias Sammet's Avantasia wrote various albums using the same format. David DeFeis appears as special guest on the track: "The Final Sacrifice" included in the Avantasia's second album.

After the show at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in 2000 without a bass player, in 2001 Virgin Steele toured with HammerFall and Freedom Call with the new bass player Josh Block.

The 20th years anniversary[link]

In 2002, the band released two compilations to celebrate the 20th years anniversary. The Book of Burning consists of a mix of previously unreleased songs and new compositions created by David DeFeis in collaboration with original guitarist Jack Starr. The songs were written at the beginning of the 90's and previously unofficially appeared in the underground, with Starr at the guitar, with the name "Sacred Demos". The album contained also re-recordings of various songs from the first two albums with Josh Block, and not Jack Starr, supporting Pursino at the second guitar. Hymns to Victory instead is a best-of album covering the band's career from Noble Savage to their latest album The House of Atreus Act II.

The way to manage the reissues of the first two albums Virgin Steele and Guardians of the Flame, never published in cd before, created one more time problems between DeFeis and Starr so they decided to truncate any sort of relationship.^[30] DeFeis managed the reissues all by himself remastering the original albums and adding new bonus tracks. The EP A Cry in the Night was included into the Guardians of the Flame CD.

Rising unchained[link]

David DeFeis (keyboards and backing vocals) appears as special guest on the first two Immortally Committed albums in the tracks "Epic" and "Council in Hell".^[31] He, Edward Pursino, Josh Block and Exorcist's drummer Geoff Fontaine played some live dates with the New York cover band Carnival of Souls.^[32]

Between the years 2002 and 2005, the band headlined a large number of heavy metal festivals such as the "Agglutination Festival" (2003, Italy), the "Tradate Iron Fest" (2004, Italy), the "Keep It True V Festival" (2004, Germany) and the "Ragnarock Festival" (2005, Netherlands).

A Barbaric Romantic Movie Of The Mind[link]

David DeFeis also created his own recording studio called: "The Hammer of Zeus" (sometimes also called "The Wrecking Ball Of Thor").^[33]

In September 2006, after 6 years without an all-new studio album, the band released its 11th full-length Visions of Eden. The album revolves heavily around Gnostic beliefs and critically revisits the traditional Christian mythology with regards to the creation of the Earth and the Biblical accounts of Adam and Eve.^[34] An even darker, more melancholic drama than the House of Atreus saga, the story revolves around Lilith, the first wife of Adam and a symbol of female strength and independence. Representing the female side of the true, higher god, she suffers under the lusting, jealous Demiurge who represents the Christian god, and as an emancipated woman who could not get along with the dominant Adam stands in stark contrast to Eve. Adam's second wife is portrayed as a docile, subservient partner created by the demiurge at the request of Adam, who could not cope with an independent woman on equal footing with him.

Visions of Eden (A Barbaric Romantic Movie Of The Mind) aka "The Lilith Project" is based on the Sumerian legend of Lilith and it is intended as the soundtrack for an imaginary movie. The band is actually looking for a producer to bring this concept album story on-screen.^[35]

Recent activities[link]

In 2007, the band played at the Power Prog VIII Festival (Atlanta, Georgia) and at the Evolution Festival (Florence, Italy). David DeFeis and Josh Block appear on the Polish band Crystal Viper EP in the cover of Virgin Steele's song "Blood and Gasoline" from the The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I album.

Between 2007 and 2008 the out of print albums Noble Savage, Age of Consent, Life Among the Ruins, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II were reissued (with bonus tracks) by the German label Dockyard1.

There are also rumors that a DVD live album is planned, a three hours show recorded at THE DOWNTOWN CLUB (Long Island, NY) in 2002 ^[4] and an acoustic concert played in 2000 in München should be part of it.^[36] In addition, the first ever Virgin Steele tribute album "By The Gods: A noble Tribute to Virgin Steele" is in the making.^[37] This album will feature true/power metal bands from all over the world and it's supported by Virgin Steele's frontman David DeFeis.

A new Virgin Steele album, entitled The Black Light Bacchanalia, was relelased at the end of October 2010 for the new label SPV/Steamhammer while, in 2011, the whole back-catalogue, from Noble Savage onwards, will be reissued again with faithfully restored covers and booklets, bonus tracks and linear notes.^[38]

Line-up[link]

• David DeFeis - all vocals, keyboards, orchestration, synth bass, swords & effects
• Edward Pursino - electric & acoustic guitars
• Frank Gilchriest - drums, chaos & pandemonium
• Josh Block - electric bass & additional rhythm guitar

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 1982 - Virgin Steele
• 1983 - Guardians of the Flame
• 1986 - Noble Savage
• 1988 - Age of Consent
• 1993 - Life Among the Ruins
• 1994 - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I
• 1995 - The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part II
• 1998 - Invictus
• 1999 - The House of Atreus Act I
• 2000 - The House of Atreus Act II
• 2006 - Visions of Eden
• 2010 - The Black Light Bacchanalia

EPs[link]

• 1983 - Wait for the Night
• 2000 - Magick Fire Music

Compilations[link]

• 2002 - Hymns to Victory
• 2002 - The Book of Burning

Singles[link]

• 1992 - Snakeskin Voodoo Man
• 1998 - Through Blood And Fire

Videos/DVD[link]

• 1992 - Tale Of The Snakeskin Voodoo Man

References[link]

External links[link]

• Virgin Steele's Official Website
• Virgin Steele on Myspace
• ARMS OF MERCURY, Authorized Official Italian Site
• NOBLESAVAGES, Greek Official Fanclub of Virgin Steele

Jevetta Steele (born November 11, 1963) is an African American gospel music singer.

Biography[link]

Steele is originally from Gary, Indiana, though she has lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for many years. She originally migrated to the Twin Cities to become a criminal lawyer,^[1] although music and stage would eventually became her destined paths. In addition to her successful solo career, Steele is a member of the acclaimed gospel group The Steeles. Jevetta Steele is married and is a mother to three children.^[2]

Musical career[link]

In 1985, Steele landed the lead role of Ismene in the touring show, The Gospel at Colonus. She went on to appear in productions of Smokey Joe's Cafe, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, Ain't Misbehavin', Crowns, and Double Infidelities. She recently composed the musical Two Queens, One Castle, which opened to rave reviews.^[1]

Jevetta Steele has also been featured on several soundtracks. Her most famous song is "Calling You" from the movie Bagdad Café; the song was nominated for an Academy Award. Steele can also be heard on the Corrina, Corrina soundtrack.

She has recorded and toured with Prince, George Clinton, 10,000 Maniacs, and Mavis Staples. She appeared on the album Memorial Beach, recorded by the Norwegian group a-ha, performing backing vocals on the songs "Lie Down in Darkness" and "Move to Memphis". Her most recent album is a 2006 collection of original and classic jazz selections called My Heart.

Albums[link]

• Jevetta Steele (1988)
• Hold Me (EP) (1992)
• Here It Is (1993)
• My Heart (2006)

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} jevetta2007
2. ^ The Steel Music

External links[link]

• Official website
• Two Queens One Castle Review (Theater News)

This gospel music article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Steele Stanwick (born September 12, 1989) is a lacrosse player who played his NCAA Division I career at the University of Virginia. He is a recipient of the Tewaaraton Trophy and the Jack Turnbull Award.

Stanwick Lacrosse Family[link]

The fifth of eight children, all three of Steele's older sisters—Sheehan, Wick, and Coco—were All-American lacrosse players in college, while older brother Tad played lacrosse at Rutgers University. Younger brother Wells is a freshman on the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse roster, younger sister Covie is a freshman on the Boston College women's lacrosse roster and youngest brother Shack is a sophomore on the Boys' Latin lacrosse squad.

Lacrosse Career[link]

Prior to joining the Cavaliers, Steele attended and played lacrosse at Loyola Blakefield in Towson, Maryland, where he led the team to the MIAA championship, recording 37 goals and 35 assists. A highly-rated prospect coming out of high school, Steele was selected by Inside Lacrosse as the #1 high school player in the country.^[1]

In his first year at Virginia, Steele was named ACC Rookie of the Year after setting a points record for UVA freshmen with 58 points (36 goals, 22 assists).^[2] In his second year, he improved his total with 29 goals and 32 assists for 61 points, which was fifth amongst all ACC players that year. That year, Steele was named a Second-Team All-American. In 2011, he scored 32 goals and completed 38 assists, including an unprecedented 20 points over a three-game stretch in the NCAA tournament, leading the Cavaliers to their fifth NCAA championship. Steele was named a First-Team All-American and won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation's best college lacrosse player. He was Virginia's third Tewaaraton winner following Chris Rotelli in 2003 and Matt Ward in 2006.^[3]

He was drafted 2nd overall in the 2012 MLL Collegiate Draft by the Ohio Machine.^[4]

Statistics[link]

University of Virginia[link]

Awards[link]

• Tewaaraton Trophy (2011)
• Jack Turnbull Award (2012)
• Three-time USILA All-American (2010, 2011, 2012)
• Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year (2011, 2012)
• Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Steele Stanwick Biography

[5]

v t e Lacrosse Overview History Terminology Strategy Years Types Box Field Women's Equipment Ball Glove Helmet Stick Regions Australia Canada England India Scotland United States Iroquois Confederacy Teams Canada Europe United States National People Players Goaltender Coaches Players by nationality Major League players National Lacrosse League players National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductees Variants Intercrosse Polocrosse Category Commons WikiProject Lacrosse

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]