George Melachrino

George Melachrino (born George Miltiades; 1 May 1909 – 18 June 1965) was a musician, composer of film music, and musical director who was English born of Greek and Italian descent. He was an accomplished player of the violin, viola, oboe, clarinet and saxophone.

Biography
George Melachrino was born in London, England. As a young boy, he had a love of music. At the age of five, he began composing and by the age of fourteen he enrolled in the Trinity College of Music. In 1927, he began his career by singing and playing at the Savoy Hill Studios in London. For the next twelve years, he played in many different bands and orchestras. In the 1930s, Melachrino started working for bands led by Ambrose singing and playing saxophone with Carroll Gibbons at the Savoy Hotel London, and Bert Firman, and started playing on radio for the BBC. In 1935, he was living at Ascot Court, Grove End Road, in St John's Wood.

By 1939, he had started his own band and secured a contract at the Café de Paris. He joined the Army a year later, and received training at the Corps of Military Police where he became a P.T. Instructor. Melachrino also gained experience as a military musician at the Army Broadcasting Department, as Musical Director for the recording of entertainment for overseas forces, leading the British Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces and the Orchestra Khaki.

After the war, in 1945, he formed the George Melachrino Orchestra, an orchestra that became synonymous with lush string arrangements. From 1945 to 1947, he conducted for Richard Tauber in most of his Parlophone recordings and BBC broadcasts. Beginning in the 1950s he specialized in easy listening arrangements of popular music standards. His ensemble recorded under the names, 'Melachrino Strings' and the 'Melachrino Strings and Orchestra.'

In 1956, his orchestra's track "Autumn Concerto" reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart, and remained in the chart for nine weeks. His album, Immortal Ladies, recorded in late 1954 had sold over one million copies by 1956, and he was presented with a gold disc by RCA Records chief, George Marek, so becoming the first British orchestra leader to receive such an award.

Melachrino frequently performed on BBC and American Armed Forces Radio.

The "Starlight Roof Waltz", as performed by the George Melachrino Strings, was the signature tune of the radio programme Moeders wil is wet (1949–1974), the Dutch equivalent of Housewives' Choice.

His lead arranger during the British Band of the AEF and later with the Melachrino Strings was Bert Thompson, who also arranged "Little White Bull" and "The Young Ones".

Melachrino has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Selected filmography

 * Woman to Woman (1947)
 * The Shop at Sly Corner (1947)
 * No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1948)
 * The Story of Shirley Yorke (1948)
 * Dark Secret (1949)
 * The Man from Yesterday (1949)
 * Eight O'Clock Walk (1954)
 * The Gamma People (1956)