Ray Hartley (musician)

Raymond Oswald Hartley OAM (26 May 1925 – 15 November 2014) was an Australian pianist, composer, arranger and philanthropist. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his fund-raising concerts in the US and Australia, and performed at the Sydney Opera House in 1994. The New Yorker magazine once described Ray Hartley's piano style as being "like a good extra-brut Château Lafite, thoroughly refined and poetic, yet always effervescent".[1][2]

Ray Hartley
OAM
Background information
Born(1925-05-26)26 May 1925
Kellerberrin, Australia
Died15 November 2014(2014-11-15) (aged 89)
New York City, US
Occupation(s)Pianist and composer
InstrumentsPiano

Early life

Ray Hartley was born in 1925 in the small wheatbelt town of Kellerberrin, 205 kms east of Perth, Western Australia. He received his first piano lessons there at the age of 7, an experience that was described many years later on the cover of his New York-produced record album: "...an accomplished pianist from the down-under land of kangaroos and koala bears, ran away from music lessons when he was nine years old owing to an aversion to his fellow pupils ... he was taking lessons in a girls' convent. But he was hauled back and in time passed all his music examinations with honors." By age 12 he began winning piano competitions, then made his ABC radio debut at 14.

Musical career

In 1942 at the age of 17, following a move to capital city Perth, Hartley had formed his own instrumental trio contracted to perform at the Esler-McMorrow dance studio and ballroom located in the Devon House building (built 1939) at 729 Hay Street. During this period he was also employed as a music programmer at the 6PM Radio station (opening in 1937 as one of only three public radio stations in Perth) that gave him a first-hand insight into the popular music scene of the era.

Following military service in the Royal Australian Air Force, Hartley moved to Sydney in 1950 to continue his classical music studies. Here he studied piano under teacher and musicologist Nancy Salas MBE, receiving his diploma at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Salas was also born in Western Australia, in the gold-mining town of Coolgardie.

London

In 1950 Hartley went to London to enter studies at the Royal Academy of Music where he was taught by pianist and composer Harold Craxton OBE. He was also taught by Margaret Hubicki MBE, a composer and teacher who invented the Colour-Staff method for people with dyslexia. Margaret Hubicki was also prominent in the Council for Music in Hospitals (later Music in Hospitals and Care) that promoted the performance of live music as therapy in U.K. hospitals. This sparked Hartley's interest in community welfare through music and its philanthropic enterprise to which he would become a staunch contributor. In 1992 at the Wyalkatchem Town Hall (a small rural town adjacent to Kellerberrin) Hartley's (now elderly) childhood friends Mill and Jim D. were treated, during Seniors Week celebrations, to a free concert by a young Perth pianist and singer. The young man was travelling through the states regional areas on a solo concert tour performing to senior citizens in their communities, care facilities and hospitals. The couple introduced Hartley to the young musician, who later visited him in New York.

During his time in London, Hartley became a guest artist on British radio and despite his classical music training, his impression of popular music came to the fore. In a collaboration with British artist Desmond O'Connor he penned the music to their first international hit song "Let's Do It Again" in 1950, published by the Cecil Lennox Inc. company. The song was a hit for American singer Frankie Carle as well as many others including Donald Peers, Sam Browne, Frank Baron and the Cherokeys, Guy Lombardo, Marie Benson, Margaret Whiting and the Chickasaws. The Hartley and O'Connor collaboration produced another hit song in 1950, "My Baby Told Me That She Loves Me", sung by Sam Browne and published by the Southern Music Publishing group in London and Sydney. Hartley also spent some time as musical director for U.K.'s wartime queen of song Vera Lynn for whom he composed "Welcome Home".

In addition to his piano and orchestral works, he accompanied and conducted for such performers as Terry-Thomas and singer Sam Browne on radio, television and concert tours, and he performed for radio on the BBC, Radio Luxembourg and Australia's ABC. In 1952, at the age of 27, Hartley took part in a Royal Command Performance before Queen Elizabeth II (in her first year as Queen) and the Royal Family, at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

New York

Citing his early success in popular music composition and passion for the Great American Songbook repertoire, Hartley went to New York City n 1953. But unable to gain fixed employment, he was forced to exit to Toronto in Canada in order to gain a permanent working visa. There he found regular employment selling radios in a department store until he was cleared to re-enter the U.S. Once back in New York however, he became a sought-after audition pianist for Broadway musicals, and it was there that he caught the eye of RCA Victor Records producer Eddie Heller, who had also been a co-owner at Derby Records and founder of Rainbow Records, and signed Hartley to a long-term contract with RCA Victor.

By 1957, Hartley was resident pianist at the prestigious Forest Hills Inn in the borough of Queens, where he began to make connections to high society and lovers of semi-classical piano music. In 1957, a newspaper featured a photograph of Hartley carrying a kangaroo. The photo caption, titled "Keyboard Specialist and Friend", read "Ray Hartley, a new RCA Victor recording artist from Kellerberrin, Western Australia, recently returned from a visit to his native continent with this picture of one of his pet kangaroos. Hartley has resumed his piano playing at the Forest Hills Inn, Forest Hills, New York."

Hartley was soon contracted as resident pianist and leading performer at New York's finest supper clubs and hotels, a career that in itself would span almost thirty years. Among his residencies were Waldorf-Astoria's Peacock Alley, the Savoy Hilton, the Sheraton-East, the Carlton House, the St. Regis-Sheraton, the St. Moritz, and Americana of New York as well as the Helmsley Palace (now the Lotte New York Palace) at 455 Madison Avenue, owned by Leona and Harry Helmsley.

Hartley's recording career with RCA Victor in New York began in earnest in 1958 with the production of a full-length album of 12 tracks titled The Trembling of a Leaf and the Sound of the Sea which featured 11 cover songs by well-known Great American Songbook composers and one original composition, "Dawning of Love", composed with lyricist Jack Lawrence with whom he would produce many other songs. The cover photograph was the work of Murray Laden who was known for work on the covers of many artists including Tito Puente, Lena Horne, George Shearing and Roy Orbison. The photo received an explanatory note on the rear of the album sleeve: "Should you look at the cover of this album and wonder what a musician in tails and a piano are doing on the beach of Long Island's Colony Club, put your mind at ease. It is only Ray listening to the sound of the sea and wondering what his pet wallaby is doing tonight." On the album Hartley was accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra arranged and conducted by fellow RCA Victor recording artist, David Terry. The album was re-produced in several countries, including a Spanish version as late as 1980 by RCA Victor Argentina, titled El Solo Pensar En Ti (He Is Only Thinking of You). In Australia a 45rpm-EP version was produced in 1958 called The Trembling of a Leaf that included just the first four tracks of the album (two-per-side).

The album was followed in the same year by a supporting 45rpm single. Again produced by Heller and accompanied by Terry's orchestra, the single included one song on piano and the other on harpsichord. The piano song was "Beautiful Love" by songwriters Young, King and Van Alstyne, and the harpsichord song "Chanson D'Amour" ("Song of Love") by Wayne Shanklin, both published by the Meadowlark Music company.

The following year in 1959, a second RCA Victor long-play album was produced, this time with the orchestra of Don Walker, a prolific Broadway orchestrator and composer who also worked in television. The 12-track album was titled For Lovers - Ray Hartley, His Piano and Orchestra. Once again, there were 11 songs by notable composers and another Lawrence collaboration, "Whispers in the Wind". As with his previous album, an EP single followed using one song from the album and one new song. Side 1 played the song "I Remember It Well" from the 1958 Vincente Minnelli film Gigi. Side 2 played "Beyond The Purple Hills" by Nick and Charles Kenny. The single was titled "The Romantic Piano of Ray Hartley - Don Walker and Orchestra".

Apart from his primary songwriting partnership with Jack Lawrence, Hartley created several compositions with Jacques Segasture who was able to write lyrics in both Spanish and Portuguese. He also composed the score for the TV musical special Portobello that was co-authored with Hollywood and TV screenwriter Blanche Hanalis. Hartley's song "Peanut Butter and Jelly Time" is featured in the score of the TV animation series Family Guy.

He was interviewed live on ABC Radio in Perth, Western Australia in 2004, asked to play the studio piano and tell a few stories of the Hollywood stars that he met, which included Joan Crawford, Raquel Welch, Vivien Leigh, Mae West and George Gershwin.[3]

In 1961, while on a visit to Sydney, Ray Hartley was photographed with long-time Perth friend and Australian actor James Condon. He was appearing on Condon's TV variety show What's Next to discuss his successes overseas and promote his new recordings.[4]

Hartley died in New York in 2014. His obituary was published in The New York Times Legacy website and a memorial celebration held in New York in April 2015.

Philanthropy and honors

In 1994, Hartley performed a concert at the Sydney Opera House that helped to raise initial funds to build Australia's first children's hospice, Bear Cottage in Manly. In 'retirement' Ray Hartley was busy giving concerts, event performances and making appearances in the name of charities, particularly in New York and the eastern seaboard of the U.S. Later in his life he was successfully treated for a non-cancerous melanoma at New York's Mount Sinai Hospital, then followed up with a benefit concert at the institution.[5] Apart from his staunch membership of New York's Musicians' Union and ASCAP, he was a longtime member and past board member of the American Australian Association. Hartley was honored with their prestigious Terry Magill Award and Medal of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2004 – Citation: "For service to the Australian community in New York and to charitable groups in Australia as a concert pianist". His fund-raising concerts in the United States and Australia included the American Red Cross, the American Theater Wing, NYC's National Arts Club, hospitals and other philanthropies.[6]

Compositions

1. in London [7][8]
My Baby Told Me She Loves Me Ray Hartley / Desmond O'Connor 1950
Let's Do It Again Ray Hartley / Desmond O'Connor / Sam Browne 1950
Yes! Yes! Yes! I Like Good Old Melody Ray Hartley / Desmond O'Connor / Sam Browne 1950
Broken Heart Ray Hartley / Ralph Ruvin 1951
Last Night's Kisses Ray Hartley / Jimmy Kennedy / Sam Browne 1951
Start Singing A Song Ray Hartley / Desmond O'Connor / Sam Browne 1952
Why Do I Love You? Ray Hartley / Desmond O'Connor / Sam Browne 1952
Come To Me Ray Hartley / Sam Howard Sept / Sam Browne 1953
Sleepy Grasshopper Ray Hartley 1953
Welcome Home Ray Hartley / Sam Browne / Eileen Sears 1953
2. in New York
Dawning Of Love Ray Hartley / Jack Lawrence 1958
Whispers In The Wind Ray Hartley / Jack Lawrence 1958
Darling, He's Playing Our Song Ray Hartley / Jack Lawrence 1959
Castro's Got To Go Cha-Cha-Cha Ray Hartley / Jacques Segasture (Portuguese) 1962
Castro's Got To Go Cha-Cha-Cha Ray Hartley / Jacques Segasture (Spanish) 1962
Moonlight For Lovers Ray Hartley / Jacques Segasture (Portuguese) 1962
Moonlight For Lovers Ray Hartley / Jacques Segasture (Spanish) 1962
Crisis In Our Love Affair Ray Hartley / Jack Warren / Segasture 1963
Christmas Ray Hartley / Ray Hartley 1971
Peanut Butter and Jelly Time Ray Hartley
Portobello (Score), TV Musical Special Ray Hartley / Blanche Hanalis
3. Copyright Registered in the US 1977[9]
- Words and Music by Ray Hartley
Pussyfootin' Around / When I Become A Man / I Could've Had / All The Fun Of The Fair / The Juggling Song / Someone / Ready, Set, Go! / Slowly But Surely /
The Gift Of Joy / Our World / Ever Since Your Eyes Looked Into Mine / How, And When, And Where? (Without You) / Life With Father / Lettin' My Feet Be My Mind /
When The Goin' Is Good / Kisses / The Old Songwritin' Man / I'm Gonna Walk By Myself / Promise Her Anything (But Give Her Love)
- Solo Piano Music by Ray Hartley
Mouse On The Mezzanine / Nightcap At Midnight / Penthouse Poodle / Pussycats' Waltz / Twilight In Chinatown

Recordings

LP Album – “The Trembling of a Leaf and The Sound of the Sea” 1958[10]
- RCA Victor / Producer Eddie Heller, with Orchestra conducted by David Terry. Cover photo by Murray Laden
A1 The Trembling of a Leaf Johnny Green / Jack Lawrence
A2 The Sound of the Sea George Sherzer / George Sherzer
A3 Sleepy Lagoon Jack Lawrence / Eric Coates
A4 With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair Jack Lawrence / Clara Edwards
A5 A Place In The Sun Livingston / Evans / Waxman
A6 Dawning of Love Ray Hartley / Jack Lawrence
B1 Beautiful Love Young / King / Van Alstyne
B2 September Song Kurt Weill / Maxwell Anderson
B3 An Affair To Remember Warren / Adamson / McCarey
B4 My Foolish Heart Victor Young / Ned Washington
B5 The Song Is You Jerome Kern / Oscar Hammerstein
B6 The Very Thought Of You Ray Noble / Ray Noble
- This album also produced in 1980 as 'El Solo Pensar En Ti' by RCA Victor Argentina in Spanish.

Single 45rpm 1958
- RCA Victor / Producer Eddie Heller, with Orchestra conducted by David Terry
Side 1 - Beautiful Love Young / King / Van Alstyne - Ray Hartley at the Piano
Side 2 – Chanson D'Amour (Song of Love) Wayne Shanklin - Ray Hartley at the Harpsichord

EP 45rpm 1958
- RCA Australia / Producer Eddie Heller, with Orchestra conducted by David Terry
A1 The Trembling of a Leaf Johnny Green / Jack Lawrence
A2 The Sound of the Sea George Sherzer / George Sherzer
B1 Sleepy Lagoon Jack Lawrence / Eric Coates
B2 With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair Jack Lawrence / Clara Edwards

LP Album – “For Lovers” 1959
- RCA Victor / Producer Eddie Heller, with Orchestra conducted by Don Walker
A1 They Can't Take That Away From Me George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin
A2 Autumn In Rome Sammy Cahn / Alessandro Cicognini / Paul Weston
A3 Secret Love (Calamity Jane) Sammy Fain / Paul Francis Webster
A4 A Certain Smile Sammy Fain / Paul Francis Webster
A5 Whispers In The Wind Ray Hartley / Jack Lawrence
A6 Come, Love Me (composer/s unknown)
B1 I Remember It Well Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe
B2 A Better Word Than Love (Gift of the Magi) Richard Adler
B3 Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love) Dimitri Tiomkin / Paul Francis Webster
B4 Heart Of Paris Edouard Falment / George Aurie
B5 Intermezzo (Intermezzo) Max Steiner / Heinz Provost
B6 Shadow Of Love (Shadow Of Love) Lee-Muiren Reuseou / Lee-Muiren Reuseou

Single 45rpm 1959
- RCA Victor / Producer Eddie Heller, with Orchestra conducted by Don Walker
Side 1 - I Remember It Well (Gigi) Alan Jay Lerner / Frederick Loewe
Side 2 – Beyond The Purple Hills Nick and Charles Kenny

Single 45rpm Victor Records Japan (1959?)
- レイ・ハートリーのロマンティック・ピアノとその楽団
Side 1 - 夕焼けの丘 (Romaji: Yu Ya-ke No Oka) (trans. “sunset on the hill”)
Side 2 - 美しき恋 (Romaji: Utsuku-shi Ki Koi) (trans. “beautiful love”)
[Actual]: Ray Hartley's Romantic Piano with Orchestra
Side 1 - Beyond The Purple Hills Nick and Charles Kenny
Side 2 - Beautiful Love Young / King / Van Alstyne

References
  1. "Ray Hartley". Discogs.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  3. "Ray Hartley, pianist to Hollywood legends - ABC (none) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation". Abc.net.au. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  4. "Western Australian Television History (WA TV History) » Blog Archive » Tribute to James Condon (1923-2014)". Watvhistory.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  5. "Concert Pianist Cancer Free After Painless Treatment | Mount Sinai - New York". Mounsinai.org. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  6. "Australian Honours Search Facility : Mr Raymond Oswald HARTLEY". Honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  7. Hartley, Ray; O'Connor, Desmond (20 November 1950). "My Baby Told Me That She Loves Me". Southern Music Publishing Co. Inc. Retrieved 20 November 2021 – via digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu.
  8. "Let's do it again /". Robbins Music Corp. 20 November 1950. Retrieved 20 November 2021 – via digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu.
  9. "Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series". Books.google.com. 1978.
  10. "Ray Hartley & David Terry and His Orchestra". Open.spotify.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
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