Paul Weston (March 12, 1912 -- September 20, 1996) was an American pianist, arranger, composer and conductor. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1933, Weston became an arranger for Rudy Vallee's Fleischmann's Hour on radio. In 1936 he joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra as chief arranger, holding the position until 1940. He then became Dinah Shore's arranger/conductor and also worked freelance for the Bob Crosby Orchestra. His association with the Crosby unit took him to Hollywood and into film work, starting with Holiday Inn in 1942. Subsequent films as musical director include Belle of the Yukon (1944) and Road To Utopia (1945). Weston arranged Ella Fitzgerald's album Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Songbook (1957), devoted to the music of Irving Berlin. In 1942, songwriter Johnny Mercer, Glenn Wallichs and Buddy DeSylva formed Capitol Records and engaged Weston as the label's musical director. Weston also began working on radio with Mercer and Capitol singer Jo Stafford. Stafford signed with Columbia Records in 1950 and Weston also joined Columbia. In 1952, Weston and Stafford married and had two children, Tim (born 1954) and Amy (born 1956). Weston had a long career as a musical director for television, including The Danny Kaye Show. He teamed up with his wife to produce a series of comedy albums based on her ability to sing off-key deliberately while Paul satirically played out of tune on the piano accompaniment. They assumed the personas of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards for these musical parodies. The couple retired from performing in the 1970s. Weston died on September 20, 1996, in Santa Monica, California. In 2006, Jo Stafford donated her husband's library and her own to the University of Arizona. She died in 2008."

• published: 14 Jun 2010
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