Denny Vaughan

Vaughan, Denny

Denny (Dennis) Vaughan. Singer, arranger, pianist, b Toronto 20 Dec 1922, d Montreal 2 Oct 1972. He performed in his teens on CFRB radio and with Horace Lapp and studied at the University of Toronto before touring Europe with The Army Show during World War II. Singing, arranging, and recording 1945-9 with the British dance bands of Carroll Gibbons, George Melachrino, and especially (1947-9) Geraldo, Vaughan became one of England's leading singing idols and was called 'the English Sinatra'. In 1949 he joined Robert Farnon on the BBC's 'Journey into Melody'.

After a year (1951) in New York as an arranger for Eddie Fisher, Ezio Pinza, and Kate Smith, he returned in 1952 to Toronto, starring first on CBC radio and then (1954-7) on CBC TV's 'Denny Vaughan Show'. He moved in 1959 to Montreal, where he led the Queen Elizabeth Hotel Orchestra, which was heard on CBC radio. From 1967 until shortly before his death Vaughan worked in Hollywood as a bandleader and was choral director for such TV programs as 'The Smothers Brothers' Show' and 'The Glen Campbell Hour'.

Besides recording in England, Vaughan was heard on several LPs of his own arrangements and compositions, including Denny Vaughan (ca 1951, Coral 56038) recorded in the USA, Girls I Knew (1967, CTL CTLS-5092/RCA CAS- 2358), Denny Vaughan and His Orchestra (1969, CTL CTLS-5119/RCA CAS-2375) and others for CTL and RCI. His single of Johnny Cowell's 'Walk Hand in Hand' (1956, Spiral) was his most successful record. His papers were deposited at the National Library of Canada in 1981.