Tony Romano (September 26, 1915 – March 4, 2005) was an American jazz guitarist and singer. He performed on radio programs and in Hollywood musicals in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He became most noted as the sideman and musical accompanist to Bob Hope , Patty Thomas and Frances Langford during their USO tours in World War II, Korean, and Vietnam wars.
19-520: Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, record producer, guitarist, broadcaster, and journalist. Niles was born May 28, 1951, in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano , a composer, singer, and guitarist who writes films, books, plays, and lectures in screenwriting. His father worked with Bing Crosby , Ray Heindorf , Bob Hope , Cole Porter , Pat Silver-Lasky , Frank Sinatra , and Joe Venuti . His parents divorced in 1959, and three years later
38-577: A Box , Frankie Goes to Hollywood , ABC , and Was (Not Was) . He has worked with Cliff Richard , Barry Manilow , Ray Charles , Stephen Gately , Ronan Keating , and contributed to hits for Wet Wet Wet , Damage , O-Town , OTT , Take That , Boyzone , and Westlife , including their duet "Against All Odds" with Mariah Carey . He appeared as the leader of the house band, Bandzilla , in Ruby Wax 's Channel 4 television series Don't Miss Wax . Bandzilla released an album of big band instrumentals. Bandzilla
57-681: A Starship Trooper ". He has composed, arranged and produced music for Anita Baker , Cilla Black , James Brown , Ray Charles , Cher , Petula Clark , Randy Crawford , Gloria Gaynor , Lulu , Paul McCartney , Pet Shop Boys , Tears For Fears , Tina Turner , and Deniece Williams . He arranged the Grace Jones album Slave to the Rhythm . Niles also scored and conducted strings on Depeche Mode songs " Home ", " Only When I Lose Myself " and "Surrender" and for Berlin's "Sex Me Talk Me". He wrote arrangements for Pet Shop Boys , Swing Out Sister , Living in
76-849: A degree in composition from the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied with Gary Burton , Michael Gibbs , Pat Metheny , and Herb Pomeroy . He received his Ph.D. from Brunel University in 2008. Returning to London in 1975, he signed to Essex Records as a writer, becoming staff arranger and producer of songwriter demos for Essex and EMI Music . This indirectly led to becoming musical director and arranger for Cat Stevens . On British television series for David Essex and Leo Sayer he arranged and conducted for Ronnie Spector , Twiggy , Kate Bush , and Denny Laine . In 1978 as staff arranger for Hansa Records he discovered Sarah Brightman and arranged both his and her first hit, " I Lost My Heart to
95-701: A duet of the same song with Pat Metheny) was Number 1 in Japan on the J-Wave charts. In 2012, Niles moved to Southern California where he opened his studio and production/publishing company Niles Smiles Music. Niles arranged two albums for the British singer Paul Carrack ; Rain Or Shine (2013) and Soul Shadows (2015). In 2015, Niles became a member/arranger of The Wrecking Crew All Stars led by Don Peake, performing twice at Catalina's Jazz Club in Hollywood. Niles has also worked for
114-515: A guitarist and singer for radio programs and Hollywood movie productions in the 1930s. He first worked on the Al Pearce radio program, then at Warner Brothers , where he composed arrangements for Dick Powell . Romano's 16-piece orchestra was the feature band for Morey Amsterdam and Mabel Todd's radio show. He also worked on the Lucky Strike Hit Parade , at 20th Century Fox and later on
133-566: A journalist, Niles has been a regular contributor to Making Music since 1994. His radio career began presenting Jazz Notes and Adventures in Jazz on BBC Radio 3 in 1996. Since 1998 he wrote and presented his own BBC Radio 2 program New Jazz Standards , which The Guardian says has "changed the tenor of jazz broadcasting." Niles has since written and presented many BBC Radio 2 documentaries including "The Arrangers" and "Bright Size Life - Pat Metheny". Niles has taught and given masterclasses in
152-464: Is also known for playing with Level 42 in partnership with fellow Brit and saxophonist Gary Barnacle . His other credits include work with artists such as Rod Stewart , George Michael , Lisa Stansfield , Jamiroquai , UB40 , Cher , Tina Turner , Pet Shop Boys , Swing Out Sister , Spice Girls , BTS , and many more, along with stints in the Buddy Rich Band and Gil Evans Orchestra. He
171-438: The 8-year-old Niles moved with his mother to London. He grew up in the care of his mother and stepfather, Jesse Lasky Jr. , a poet, playwright and screenwriter. Niles toured Britain with his group Pure Wings (1969-1970) and then decided to study. According to Niles in an interview with HitQuarters , although his parents were critical about his choice to become a musician, they eventually supported his studies. In 1975 he received
190-705: The Pepsodent radio show for NBC . In September 1942, Bob Hope asked Romano to accompany him on his initial USO tour to entertain troops at bases in Alaska and the Aleutians. Hope had already enlisted singer Frances Langford and comedian Jerry Colonna but needed a musician and asked Colonna for a recommendation. Colonna said, "Get Tony Romano. Best guitar in the business." The foursome of Hope, Langford, comedian Jack Pepper and Romano performed in England, Sicily, North Africa and
209-817: The South Pacific during World War II. They also toured in 1948 during the Berlin Airlift and in Korea in the 1950s. During the Vietnam War, Romano accompanied Langford without Hope on USO circuit tours in Southeast Asia. In between USO tours, Romano performed on several programs, including the Jack Carson radio show and recorded his own music (his recording Stars Fell on Alabama was a hit in 1956) as well as arranged songs for Johnny Mercer , Bing Crosby and others. Romano
SECTION 10
#1732884435266228-857: The UK at Brunel University, Leeds College of Music, The Royal Northern College of Music, The Academy of Contemporary Music, The Institute of Contemporary Music and The Tech Schools of Music. In the US he has taught at USC, UCLA, CalState (Northridge), Berklee College Of Music, and the Orange County School of Arts. Niles wrote the score to The Strike (Comic Strip Films 1988) (Golden Rose of Montreaux, Honorable Mention for music), Do The Right Thing (Universal Pictures 1989), Billy Eliot (orchestration - BBC Films 2000), The Christmas Carol: The Movie (lyrics - MGM 2001), Alice in Russialand (dir. Ken Russell 1995) In 1982, Niles
247-454: The advertising industry, composing and producing music for TV commercials including McDonald's , Max Factor , Toshiba , Wall's , Nescafé and EuroDisney. Niles has written books on music. The Pat Metheny Interviews (Pub. Hal Leonard 2009), Polymetrics with Gary O'Toole (Pub. Jazzsense 2011), The Invisible Artist (pub. Amazon Create Space 2014) and From Dreaming To Gigging - Jazz Guitar in 6 Months (Pub. Amazon Create Space 2015). As
266-581: The albums Santa Rita (Sanctuary) and Club Deranged (Nucool). Niles discovered British R&B singer Clive Griffin producing and co-writing the album Clive Griffin in 1987 followed by TV appearances and gigs supporting Chaka Khan. In 1999, Niles discovered the Norwegian singer/songwriter Silje Nergaard, producing and co-writing three albums, Tell Me Where You're Going (EMI/Lifetime Records 1990), Cow On The Highway (Toshiba/EMI 1991) and Silje (Toshiba/EMI 1992). Their song "Tell Me Where You're Going" (b/w
285-522: Was born in Madera, California , one of nine children of an Italian immigrant shoemaker. According to Romano, his father played violin and guitar, and the entire family was musical. He said, "In our family, if you didn't sing, you didn't eat." In his youth, he played violin but took up the guitar after being inspired by Eddie Lang . At 17, Romano moved to Hollywood where he studied guitar with Paramount Studio's guitarist George Smith. Romano built his career as
304-424: Was married to singer/actress Barbara Hayden . They had two children, Richard Niles and Lisa Hayden-Miller. Romano was married to Evelyn Collette from 1964 until his death in 2005. They had one child Regina Marie Romano Deese. John Thirkell John Thirkell is a British trumpet and flugelhorn player, who has appeared on hundreds of pop, rock, and jazz recordings. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, he
323-663: Was married to vocalist Tessa Niles ; they divorced in 1988. He married Aylin Marquez in 1999 and they have one child, Alexander, born in 2002. Alexander is a musician and actor performing in Francis Ford Coppola 's Distant Vision . Articles in Berklee Today magazine Articles by Richard Niles in Making Music magazine: Articles about Richard Niles: Guitar International (Nov 2009) Tony Romano (musician) Romano
342-607: Was on at least one album in the UK Charts continuously, without a break, for over 13 years. In 2009, he had two consecutive UK No.1 singles with Pixie Lott and was the first person to be inducted into the Musician's Union "Hall of Fame." One of his recent number-one albums that he performed on includes Olly Murs ' 2022 album Marry Me . According to Thirkell's own research, he has performed on 36 number-one albums, with his 36th occurring on Shania Twain 's 2023 album Queen of Me . He
361-753: Was the house band for the Michael Ball television series (1994) with Niles as musical director. Niles wrote and arranged for both Joe Cocker and James Brown on this series. As leader of Bandzilla, he released Blue Movies featuring Guy Barker and John Thirkell (Lifetime Records, 1990) and Bandzilla Rises!!! (Bandzilla Records, 2016) co-produced by John Thirkell and featuring Randy Brecker, Leo Sayer, Clarice Assad, Lamont Dozier Jr. and Nigel Hitchcock. Niles wrote, arranged, and produced music for Pat Metheny, Bob Mintzer, John Patitucci, Jane Monheit and Bob James. Other jazz-oriented work produced by Niles include albums by Morrissey–Mullen and Jim Mullen . Niles released
#265734