Percy Faith

Few songs evoke the post-World War II world of America's new suburban landscapes as well as Percy Faith's enduring instrumental gem "Theme to a Summer Place." It was only one of the smash hits this key architect of easy listening music had during a recording career that lasted until his death in 1976. Faith, a Canadian-born arranger, bandleader and pianist, was a mainstay at Columbia Records, where, besides having a busy solo career, he wrote string-laden arrangements for such vocal stars as Doris Day, Johnny Mathis and Rosemary Clooney. Faith wasn't as jazz orientated as his arranging peers Nelson Riddle, Ray Conniff and Henry Mancini, but his music still endures, even if it's intrinsically tied to the era in which it was made.