Pete Wendling

American composer and pianist. Born June 6, 1888 in New York, New York. Died April 7, 1974 in New York, New York. Born in New York City to German immigrants, Wendling started his working life as a carpenter. During the mid-1910s, however, he gained fame as a popular music composer, producing such hits as "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula," "Take Me To The Land Of Jazz," "Take Your Girlie To The Movies," "Felix The Cat," and "[r5657660]." Apart from that, Wendling was one of the top pianists of his era and set a long-standing record when he appeared at the London Hippodrome for 8 consecutive weeks. In 1914, he joined the Rhythmodik Music Roll Company and started to record his performances on paper rolls for player pianos. In 1916, he recorded for American Piano Company (Ampico). In 1919, he joined the largest piano roll company, QRS, and rapidly became one of their most popular artists. His distinctive yet always fresh performances constantly topped their best-selling lists and are still in production as of 2003 - over 80 years since they were produced. He charted twenty-four times between 1916 and 1955 in the U.S. as a songwriter. He had a #1 hit song in 1919 with "Oh! What a Pal was Mary" by Henry Burr (co-written by Bert Kalmar & Edgar Leslie) and a #2 song with "Yaaka Hula Hickey Dula" by Al Jolson in 1916 (co-written by E. Ray Goetz & Joe Young). In 1955, the song "I Wonder" by Jane Froman hit #14 in the U.K. (written by Pete Wendling with Joseph Meyer & Sam M. Lewis). In 1925 (or possibly as late as 1929), QRS, who were tightening their belt due to declining sales, released Wendling, and he concentrated on his composing career until his retirement in the 1950s. Married to Anna, he had no children. He died in New York City in April 1974.

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