Joe Harnell

About

American easy listening pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader. Born August 2, 1924, The Bronx, New York City, New York. Died July 14, 2005, Sherman Oaks, California. Harnell began playing piano at age six and was performing in his father's ensembles by age 14. He attended the University of Miami on a music scholarship in the early 1940s. He studied with Nadia Boulanger when stationed in Paris and then under William Walton at Trinity College of Music in London. After his discharge in 1946, he studied at Tanglewood under Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. He wrote the United Artists logo music for film/TV. He played piano in dance bands, and was music director for Harry Richman, Jane Froman, Peggy Lee, Carol Lawrence, Robert Goulet, and Marlene Dietrich. From 1967 to 1973, he worked as musical director, pianist and bandleader of The Mike Douglas Show. He charted three instrumentals with his orchestra from 1962 to 1967. "Fly Me to the Moon - Bossa Nova" hit #4 adult contemporary and #14 overall in the U.S. in 1962. It finished at #89 on the Original Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles charts for the year, 1963.