Biography
Born on 17 August 1909 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and deceased on 2 May 1985 in Deltona, Florida, USA, Clinton launched his career as an arranger, supplying charts for the Dorsey Brothers, the Casa Loma Orchestra, Isham Jones, and Tommy Dorsey’s band before launching his own orchestra in 1937. Handling trumpet, clarinet, and trombone himself while featuring the excellent vocalist Bea Wain, he scored successive hits with ‘Cry, Baby, Cry’, ‘Heart And Soul’, ‘Deep Purple’, and ‘My Reverie’, the last of which he reworked from a Claude Debussy theme. Among Clinton’s numerous compositions were ‘Satan Takes A Holiday’, ‘Our Love’, and ‘The Dipsy Doodle’, which became a chart-topper for Tommy Dorsey. The ensemble, which performed both sweet and swing styles, disbanded in 1941 after Clinton joined the US Army; although it regrouped following the war, the group never regained its earlier level of success. By the early 50s Clinton had chosen to work instead as a music publishing and record executive.