Post by Rob Durkee on Sept 21, 2009 22:41:15 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Arthur (Art) Ferrante, half of the piano-playing duo of Ferrante and Teicher, died on Saturday, September 19, 2009. He was 88. His manager, Scott W. Smith, told Claire Noland of the Los Angeles Times that Ferrante died of natural causes at his Longboat Key, Florida, home.
Lou Teicher, meanwhile, was 83 when he died August 3, 2008. When Ferrante learned of his partner's passing last year, he told the AP, ""No one was more blessed than I to have Lou Teicher as my best friend since we met at the Julliard School Of Music at the ages of nine and six. We turned our friendship into a professional two-piano team in the mid-1940's. Although we were two individuals, as the twin-pianos, our brains worked as one. Lou was certainly one of the world's most gifted pianists. I will miss him dearly and as pianists, it's ironic how we both ended up living on keys."
Art Ferrante and Lou Teicher burst onto the pop music scene in the summer of 1960 with the first of their five top 40 instrumental movie hits, the "Theme From 'The Apartment'," which reached #9 on the Cashbox pop chart. "The Apartment" led to the duo's changing its style in concerts. Ferrante recalled, "We were on tour when that song came out, and we noticed that our audiences were acting different. They used to listen for our classical music, but then they'd be rustling their programs and obviously not too interested in what was going on. So, we did the only thing we could. We changed our style...and we haven't regretted it for a minute."
Ferrante and Teicher's followup, though, was their biggest hit, "Exodus," which peaked at #1 in early 1961. Ernest Gold, the father of 1970's singer Andrew Gold of "Lonely Boy" fame, co-wrote "Exodus" along with Pat Boone.
"Exodus" helped usher in 1961, the biggest year ever for instrumentals. "Exodus" reached the top of the pop chart at a time when two other huge hits were popular as #1 instrumentals: "Wonderland By Night" by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert and "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk. Kaempfert was also famous for working with the Beatles in their early years. In all, 1961 would produce over 30 top 40 instrumentals, more than any year in history. Among them were Ferrante and Teicher's #39-peaking theme from "One-Eyed Jacks" and the #6 single, "Tonight" (from "West Side Story").
Finally, in late 1969, Ferrante And Teicher reached #10 on the Cashbox pop chart with "Midnight Cowboy." The duo became known as "The Movie Theme Team" with its hits, performing together for over four decades. The two recorded more than 150 albums together and sold over 90 million records worldwide. At least 22 of their records achieved gold or platinum record sales honors from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Ferrante and Teicher recorded for three labels: Columbia, ABC and United Artists. In 1983, they formed their own label, Avant-Garde Records. Their tours accounted for over five thousand concerts and their over 200 TV appearances included "American Bandstand," "The Tonight Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." They were White House guests of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.
Ferrante and Teicher retired in 1989
Arthur (Art) Ferrante, half of the piano-playing duo of Ferrante and Teicher, died on Saturday, September 19, 2009. He was 88. His manager, Scott W. Smith, told Claire Noland of the Los Angeles Times that Ferrante died of natural causes at his Longboat Key, Florida, home.
Lou Teicher, meanwhile, was 83 when he died August 3, 2008. When Ferrante learned of his partner's passing last year, he told the AP, ""No one was more blessed than I to have Lou Teicher as my best friend since we met at the Julliard School Of Music at the ages of nine and six. We turned our friendship into a professional two-piano team in the mid-1940's. Although we were two individuals, as the twin-pianos, our brains worked as one. Lou was certainly one of the world's most gifted pianists. I will miss him dearly and as pianists, it's ironic how we both ended up living on keys."
Art Ferrante and Lou Teicher burst onto the pop music scene in the summer of 1960 with the first of their five top 40 instrumental movie hits, the "Theme From 'The Apartment'," which reached #9 on the Cashbox pop chart. "The Apartment" led to the duo's changing its style in concerts. Ferrante recalled, "We were on tour when that song came out, and we noticed that our audiences were acting different. They used to listen for our classical music, but then they'd be rustling their programs and obviously not too interested in what was going on. So, we did the only thing we could. We changed our style...and we haven't regretted it for a minute."
Ferrante and Teicher's followup, though, was their biggest hit, "Exodus," which peaked at #1 in early 1961. Ernest Gold, the father of 1970's singer Andrew Gold of "Lonely Boy" fame, co-wrote "Exodus" along with Pat Boone.
"Exodus" helped usher in 1961, the biggest year ever for instrumentals. "Exodus" reached the top of the pop chart at a time when two other huge hits were popular as #1 instrumentals: "Wonderland By Night" by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert and "Calcutta" by Lawrence Welk. Kaempfert was also famous for working with the Beatles in their early years. In all, 1961 would produce over 30 top 40 instrumentals, more than any year in history. Among them were Ferrante and Teicher's #39-peaking theme from "One-Eyed Jacks" and the #6 single, "Tonight" (from "West Side Story").
Finally, in late 1969, Ferrante And Teicher reached #10 on the Cashbox pop chart with "Midnight Cowboy." The duo became known as "The Movie Theme Team" with its hits, performing together for over four decades. The two recorded more than 150 albums together and sold over 90 million records worldwide. At least 22 of their records achieved gold or platinum record sales honors from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Ferrante and Teicher recorded for three labels: Columbia, ABC and United Artists. In 1983, they formed their own label, Avant-Garde Records. Their tours accounted for over five thousand concerts and their over 200 TV appearances included "American Bandstand," "The Tonight Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." They were White House guests of Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.
Ferrante and Teicher retired in 1989
