{{Short description|American jazz saxophonist and orchestra leader (1900–1963)}} {{About||the American football coach|Glen Gray (American football)|the curler|Glenn Gray (curler)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Glen Gray | image = Glen Gray Billboard.jpg | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|6|7}} | birth_place = Roanoke, Illinois, United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|8|23|1900|6|7}} | death_place = Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States | genre = Jazz, swing | occupation = Bandleader | instrument = Saxophone | years_active = 1915–1963 | label = Brunswick, Decca, Capitol | associated_acts = Casa Loma Orchestra }}

'''Glenn Gray Knoblauch''' (June 7, 1900 &ndash; August 23, 1963),<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1020}}</ref> known professionally as '''Glen Gray''', was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.<ref name=rag>''The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. Borgman, October 2006, page 1</ref>

==Early years== Gray was born to Lurdie P. and Agnes (Gray) Knoblauch in Roanoke, Illinois, United States.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> His father was a saloon keeper and railroad worker who died when Glen was two years of age.<ref>{{cite news|title=Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra|first=George A.|last=Borgman|newspaper=The Mississippi Rag|page=1|date=October 2006}}</ref> He had an older sister. His widowed mother married George H. DeWilde, a coal miner, and moved her family to Roanoke. Gray graduated from Roanoke High School, in 1917 where he played basketball and acquired his nickname, "Spike".<ref name="p">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5192305/the_pantagraph|title=Glen Gray Top Band Leader for 20 Years|work=The Pantagraph|date=February 3, 1957|author=Holloway, Tony|location=Illinois, Bloomington|page=6|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=May 7, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref>

==Career== Gray attended the American Conservatory of Music in 1921 but left during his first year to go to Peoria, Illinois, to play with George Haschert's orchestra. From 1924 to 1929, he played with several orchestras in Detroit, Michigan.<ref name=p/>

Gray served as leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra although the orchestra itself had been formed as a collective group, with no designated leader.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Their mid-1930s appearances on the long-run radio comedy-variety program, the ''Camel Caravan'',<ref name="LarkinGE"/> (introduced with their theme, "Smoke Rings") increased their popularity. Gray chose not to conduct the band in the early years, playing in the saxophone section while violinist Mel Jenssen acted as conductor.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> In 1937, the band overwhelmingly voted in favor of Glen leading the orchestra, and Gray finally accepted the job.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> By the mid-1940s, Gray would come to own the band and the Casa Loma name. For a time, during this period, the band featured guitarist Herb Ellis, trumpeter Bobby Hackett, pianist Nick Denucci and cornetist Red Nichols.

By 1950, the Casa Loma band had ceased touring, and Gray retired to Massachusetts.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> The later recordings on Capitol Records (beginning with ''Casa Loma in Hi-Fi'' in 1956 and continuing through the Sounds of the Great Bands series) were done with Gray leading a group of studio musicians in Hollywood (although several of Gray's "alumni" occasionally featured). In all, some 14 high-fidelity and stereo recordings were made for Capitol under the name of Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra before Gray's death in 1963.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

==Major recordings==

Notable successes since Gray became leader in 1937 included:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitburn |first1=Joel |title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954 |date=1986 |publisher=Record Research Inc |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-083-0 |pages=184-185}}</ref> <br>

Never in a Million Years (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1937)<br> You Go to My Head (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1938)<br> I Cried for You (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1939)<br> This Night (Will Be My Souvenir) (vocal Clyde Burke) (1939)<br> Heaven Can Wait (vocal Clyde Burke) (1939)<br> Sunrise Serenade (Frankie Carle on piano) (1939)<br> Tears from My Inkwell (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1939)<br> A Lover's Lullaby (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1940)<br> No Name Jive (vocal by Kenny Sargent) (1940)<br> One Dozen Roses (vocal by Pee Wee Hunt) (1942)<br> Don't Get Around Much Anymore (vocal by Kenny Sargent & LeBrun Sisters) (1943)<br> My Heart Tells Me (vocal Eugenie Baird) 1943<br> My Shining Hour (vocal Eugenie Baird) 1943<br> Gotta Be This or That (vocal Fats Daniels) (1945)

==Personal life and death== Gray and his wife had one son.<ref name=p/>

In 1963, Gray died in Plymouth, Massachusetts of lymphoma, aged 63.<ref name=rs>DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-2834-2}}, p. 114.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0336663|name=Glen Gray}} * [http://www.swingmusic.net/Gray_Glen.html Glen Gray biography at Swingmusic.net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203040051/http://www.swingmusic.net/Gray_Glen.html |date=2021-12-03 }} * The [http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20297122 Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra records, 1915-1979] are located in the Northeastern University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections Department, Boston, MA. * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104161 Glen Gray recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Glen}} Category:1900 births Category:1963 deaths Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:American male saxophonists Category:American big band bandleaders Category:People from Woodford County, Illinois Category:Deaths from lymphoma in Massachusetts Category:People from Plymouth, Massachusetts Category:Illinois Wesleyan University alumni Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:Swing bandleaders Category:20th-century American saxophonists Category:Jazz musicians from Massachusetts Category:Jazz musicians from Illinois Category:20th-century American male musicians Category:American male jazz musicians Category:Casa Loma Orchestra members