Biography for
Percy Faith

photos

board

add

contact

details

Date of Birth

Date of Death

Mini Biography

Percy Faith was a child piano prodigy, but his hands were burned in a fire at age 18. Switching to conducting and arranging, his unique orchestral 'sound', with strong emphasis on creative string work, soon became familiar to listeners everywhere. He recorded 85 albums for Columbia Records, and three hit singles: "Delicado" (1952), "Theme from 'Moulin Rouge'" (1953), and "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (1960). Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Tony Bennett all considered Percy Faith among their favorite accompanists.

Mini Biography

He was educated at the Toronto Conservatory, and studied with Louis Waizman and Frank Wellman. Beginning as a film-theatre pianist, he moved on to dance orchestras, and conducted his own orchestra on radio in 1931, then became staff arranger and conductor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He came to the USA in 1940. Joining ASCAP in 1949, his chief musical collaborator was Carl Sigman, and his popular-song and instrumental compositions include "My Heart Cries For You", "The Love Goddess", "The Virginian Theme", "Music Through the Night", "Cheerio", "March of the Junior Scouts", "Buy a Bond For Victory", "The Snow Goose", "Aphrodite", "Noche Caribe", "Perpetual Notion", "Nervous Gavotte", "Contrasts", "Brazilian Sleighbells", and "Carefree".

Spouse

Trivia

His recording of "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (Columbia: 1960) spent seventeen weeks on the American pop charts beginning in January, 1960, including nine weeks at number one, making it the biggest-selling instrumental hit of the rock era to date. The single ultimately won a Gold Record, the R.I.A.A. standard up until 1976, for more than one million copies sold.

One of the most popular composer/arrnger/conductors of the so-called "Golden Age of Mood Music," his best-selling albums from more than two decades on Columbia records include "Amour, Amor, Amore," "Themes for Young Lovers," "Music from 'My Fair Lady,'" "The Columbia Album of Victor Herbert," "The Beatles Album," "Held Over," "Bouquet," "Tara's Theme from 'Gone With the Wind,'" "Joy," "The Music of Christmas," "Latin Themes for Young Lovers," "Bim! Bam!! Boom!!!," "Today's Themes for Young Lovers," "Summer Place '76," and, perhaps inevitably, "Percy Faith's Greatest Hits."

His recording of "Theme from A Summer Place" was the biggest selling single of 1960 in America.

	You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
	With our Resume service you can add photos and build a complete resume to help you achieve the best possible presentation on the IMDb. Click here to add your resume and/or your photos to IMDb.

Browse biographies section by name

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z