Ralph Flanagan

Bandleader, conductor, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, and Alvino Rey. He was educated at Lorain High School, where he was a member of the National Honors Society, the student senate and newspaper staff, Hi-Y and the chorus. During World War II he served in the Merchant Marine, and then by 1949 he formed a very successful orchestra which is credited with re-popularizing the Glenn Miller "sound", and which made many records, among them "Rag Mop" and "Hot Toddy". (The Flanagan orchestra's theme songs were "Giannina Mia" and "Singing Winds", the latter title also applying to the orchestra's singing group.) He joined ASCAP in 1950, and his popular-song compositions include "Hot Today" and "Flanagan's Boogie".