Peter Duchin

Born on 28 July 1937 in New York City, Peter Duchin, son of the prominent bandleader Eddy Duchin, assembled his opening dance orchestra in that same city during 1962. Opting to preserve rather than revise established big-band conventions, he initiated a long-term engagement at the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Within a short time he had become a sought-after performer at exclusive social functions and gatherings, thereby achieving a standing among the nation’s elite that echoed his father’s earlier success. Once his three-year stay at the St. Regis concluded, further residencies followed at the Fontainebleu Hotel in Miami and the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. Buoyed by this demand, Duchin soon organized several additional orchestras that carried his name and accepted bookings nationwide. The ensembles appeared regularly at White House receptions and dances, among them the January 1965 inauguration of President Johnson. A Decca Records contract produced multiple releases, after which an agreement with Universal Pictures Studio briefly placed his musicians in motion pictures; the arrangement ended, however, before most of the scheduled films reached completion. Duchin thereafter devoted himself to live appearances, a pursuit he continues at remunerative venues across America.