Don Ralke
Encyclopedia
Don Ralke was a prolific music arranger, composer
, and producer, working for four decades in the Hollywood studio system in films, television, and pop recordings. He was born on July 13, 1920 in Battle Creek, Michigan
. Ralke died January 26, 2000 in Santa Rosa, California
.
, graduating with honors. He also studied with famed composer and Hollywood emigre, Arnold Schoenberg
.
Ralke collaborated with versatile flute and reed instrumentalist, Buddy Collette
on "Jazz Heat", "Bongo Beat". Warner Bros.
hired him for "Gershwin with Bongoes" and "The Sensuous and the Savage", which is widely regarded as one of the best jungle exotica albums of that era. He worked with Warren Barker on the music for 77 Sunset Strip
and did the heavy musical lifting when Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, one of the show's stars, became a teen idol
and recorded his one hit, "Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb". Ralke performed similar duties for "Hawaiian Eye
" star Connie Stevens
when she recorded "Sixteen Reasons". Other recordings include Jewel Akens' "The Birds and the Bees
", and five other gold records. Ralke also recorded two hits by Ty Wagner: "I'm a No Count" as well as "Slander". In the late 1960s he created his own record company. He collaborated with sound engineer Brad Miller on the hugely successful strings-with-environmental sounds creation, the Mystic Moods Orchestra.
talent" became a specialty niche for Ralke. Ralke is credited for convincing non-singers including William Shatner
and Lorne Greene
to play it safe and stick to narration over a musical background. Ralke also produced Beach Boys dad Murry Wilson
's The Many Moods of Murray Wilson which was not kindly lauded by critics but nonetheless has achieved a place as an important footnote in 1960s music.
Snoopy, Come Home
.
on the series "Happy Days
" and its spin-off, "Laverne and Shirley".
, co-founder of Gold Star
recording studio, as "the most well-known unknown in the business."
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and producer, working for four decades in the Hollywood studio system in films, television, and pop recordings. He was born on July 13, 1920 in Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...
. Ralke died January 26, 2000 in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
.
Education
Ralke received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in music at the University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, graduating with honors. He also studied with famed composer and Hollywood emigre, Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
.
Career overview
On the bongosBongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
Ralke collaborated with versatile flute and reed instrumentalist, Buddy Collette
Buddy Collette
William Marcel "Buddy" Collette was an American tenor saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist. He was highly influential in the West coast jazz and West Coast blues mediums, also collaborating with saxophonist Dexter Gordon, drummer Chico Hamilton, and his lifelong friend, bassist Charles...
on "Jazz Heat", "Bongo Beat". Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
hired him for "Gershwin with Bongoes" and "The Sensuous and the Savage", which is widely regarded as one of the best jungle exotica albums of that era. He worked with Warren Barker on the music for 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
and did the heavy musical lifting when Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, one of the show's stars, became a teen idol
Teen idol
A teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...
and recorded his one hit, "Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb". Ralke performed similar duties for "Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
" star Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens
Connie Stevens is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in the television series Hawaiian Eye and other TV and film work.-Early life:...
when she recorded "Sixteen Reasons". Other recordings include Jewel Akens' "The Birds and the Bees
The birds and the bees
"The birds and the bees" is an English-language idiomatic expression that refers to courtship and sexual intercourse, and is usually used in reference to teaching someone, often a young child, about sex and pregnancy...
", and five other gold records. Ralke also recorded two hits by Ty Wagner: "I'm a No Count" as well as "Slander". In the late 1960s he created his own record company. He collaborated with sound engineer Brad Miller on the hugely successful strings-with-environmental sounds creation, the Mystic Moods Orchestra.
Golden Throats
Working with "Golden ThroatsGolden Throats
Golden Throats is Rhino Records' series of humorous compilations of critically lambasted cover versions of songs, performed mostly either by celebrities known for something other than musical talent or musicians not known for the genre from which the song they are covering comes...
talent" became a specialty niche for Ralke. Ralke is credited for convincing non-singers including William Shatner
William Shatner
William Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
and Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene
Lorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
to play it safe and stick to narration over a musical background. Ralke also produced Beach Boys dad Murry Wilson
Murry Wilson
Murry Gage Wilson was an American musician and record producer, best remembered as the father of The Beach Boys members Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson, uncle of bandmate Mike Love, and the husband of Audree Wilson...
's The Many Moods of Murray Wilson which was not kindly lauded by critics but nonetheless has achieved a place as an important footnote in 1960s music.
Snoopy Come Home
In 1972 Ralke produced and orchestrated Bob and Dick Sherman's Grammy nominated musical filmMusical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
Snoopy, Come Home
Snoopy, Come Home
Snoopy, Come Home! is a 1972 animated musical film, produced by Cinema Center Films, National General Pictures and Lee Mendelson Films, directed by Bill Meléndez, and based on the Peanuts comic strip. The songs are by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman...
.
Happy Days/Laverne and Shirley
In the 1970s, he returned to television, working for producer Garry MarshallGarry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall is an American actor, director, writer and producer. His notable credits include creating Happy Days and The Odd Couple and directing Nothing In Common, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, and The Princess Diaries.-Early life:Marshall was born in the New York City...
on the series "Happy Days
Happy Days
Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....
" and its spin-off, "Laverne and Shirley".
Description by colleagues
Ralke was once described by Stan RossGold Star Studios
Gold Star Studios was a major independent recording studio located in Los Angeles, California, United States. For more than thirty years, from 1950 to 1984, Gold Star was one of the most influential and successful commercial recording studios in the world....
, co-founder of Gold Star
Gold Star Studios
Gold Star Studios was a major independent recording studio located in Los Angeles, California, United States. For more than thirty years, from 1950 to 1984, Gold Star was one of the most influential and successful commercial recording studios in the world....
recording studio, as "the most well-known unknown in the business."
Recordings
- Very Truly Yours, Crown RecordsCrown Records-Modern Records subsidiary:One Crown Records was a Budget Albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records.-Singles:* 19??: "Musso's Boogie" b/w "Sing Sing Sing" * 19??: "???" b/w "???" * 19??: "???" b/w "???"...
CLP 5018 - Dance Caper in Hi-Fi, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
WBS-1300 - Bongo Madness, Crown RecordsCrown Records-Modern Records subsidiary:One Crown Records was a Budget Albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records.-Singles:* 19??: "Musso's Boogie" b/w "Sing Sing Sing" * 19??: "???" b/w "???" * 19??: "???" b/w "???"...
CLP 5019 - Bourbon Street Beat, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
WBS-1321 - But You've Never Heard Gershwin with Bongoes, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
WBS-1360 - The Savage and the Sensuous Bongoes, Warner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsWarner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
WBS-1398 - Jerry Howard Plays Crazy Guitar, Imperial RecordsImperial RecordsImperial Records is a United States based label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd and reactivated in 2006 by label owner EMI.- The independent and Liberty Records years :...
LP-9106 - (arranger/producer on) The Transformed ManThe Transformed ManThe Transformed Man is actor William Shatner's debut album. It was released in 1968, while Shatner was still starring in the original Star Trek series, and began his musical career. The concept of the album was to juxtapose famous pieces of poetry with their modern counterparts, pop lyrics...
, William ShatnerWilliam ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
DLP-75043 - (arranger/producer on) "RingoRingo (song)"Ringo" was a hit single for the Canadian-born actor, Lorne Greene, in 1964.The song's actual sung lyrics are limited to the title word alone, performed by an unidentified male chorus. Throughout the rest of the performance, Greene talks about the legendary gunfighter...
", Lorne GreeneLorne GreeneLorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica... - C'mon Let's Live a Little (soundtrack), Liberty LST-7430
- (arranger/producer on) Snoopy Come Home Original Cast Soundtrack