Paul Whiteman Biography

Fast Facts

• Started out as a viola player in the Denver Symphony Orchestra in 1907 and later played for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in 1914
• Formed his first dance band in San Francisco in 1918 and later settled in New York in 1920
• Appeared in a series of films in the 1940s as himself, including 1940's "Strike Up the Band" and 1945's "Rhapsody in Blue․"
• Best known as a composer and bandleader whose popular recordings include "Rhapsody in Blue," "Wang Wang Blues," and "Mississippi Mud․"
• Hosted "The Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club," a music competition show, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, featuring early appearances by the likes of Bobby Rydell and Frankie Avalon
• Served as the NASCAR director of Daytona Speedway during the 1950s and 1960s
• Commissioned George Gershwin to write "Rhapsody in Blue" and debuted it with his orchestra, and with Gershwin on the piano, in 1924