Les Baxter Biography

Fast Facts

• Received formal music education at the Detroit Conservatory and at Pepperdine College
• Signed with Capitol Records in 1950 and produced popular instrumental singles like "April in Portugal," "Unchained Melody," and "The Poor People of Paris․"
• Joined Mel Torme's vocal group, the Mel-Tones, in 1945 and sang with the Artie Shaw band
• Quote: "I want to be innovative․ Perhaps I was the most innovative person in our business, I don't know․"
• Quote: "(On why he accepted such a wide variety of work): "Once I made the mistake of turning down․․․the ballet 'Fancy Free'․․․I recommended Leonard Bernstein․ It was the first great success of his career, and since then I've never turned down anything!""
• Best known as a musician and composer who is celebrated as one of the creators of exotica music
• Wrote scores for more than 100 films, including 1960's "The House of Usher" and 1961's "The Master of the World․"
• Composed a series of shows for the theme park SeaWorld in the 1980s
• His score for the 1971 horror film "Frogs" consisted entirely of synthesized frog sounds; when asked who he collaborated with on the score, he replied "The frogs․"