Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. In its first year of publication, 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story were distributed by Montgomery Ward. The story is written as a poem in the meter of Twas the Night Before Christmas.
May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, decided to adapt the story of Rudolph into a song. Marks (1909–1985), was a radio producer and wrote several popular Christmas songs. He was born in a New York City suburb and graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., before going off to Paris to study music. He had a heroic World War II combat record, winning the Bronze Star and four battle stars.
It was first sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York city radio in the latter part of 1948 before Gene Autry recorded it formally in 1949, and has since filtered into the popular consciousness.
Autry's version of the song also holds the distinction of being the only number one hit to fall completely off the chart after hitting #1 the week of Christmas 1949. Nonetheless, it sold 2.5 million copies the first year, eventually selling a total of 25 million, and it remained the second best-selling record of all time until the 1980s.
Other recordings of the song:
In 1953, Billy May recorded Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Mambo with vocals by Alvin Stoller.
In 1965, The Supremes recorded the song for their holiday album, Merry Christmas.
In 1970, The Jackson 5 recorded the song for their holiday album, The Jackson 5 Christmas Album.
In 1996, The Wiggles recorded this song for their album, Wiggly, Wiggly Christmas. A year later, they sang it on their video, Wiggly Wiggly Christmas.
(http://www.wikipedia.com/)
Listen to Gene Autry and The Pinafores sing Rudolph.
No comments:
Post a Comment