Jack Halloran was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

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 choral director. He died at 81 of a stroke.

Early life

Born in Rock Rapids, Iowa

Rock Rapids, Iowa

Rock Rapids is a city in Lyon County in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa, an area known for its strong Dutch heritage and conservative politics. It is the county seat of Lyon County and home to Central Lyon Schools. The population was 2,549 in the 2010 census, a decline from 2,573...

 in 1916, Halloran earned degrees in music from Morningside College

Morningside College

Morningside College is a private, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church located in Sioux City, Iowa. Founded in 1894 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, Morningside College is a private, four-year, co-educational liberal arts institution. Morningside has 21 buildings on a ...

 in Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....

, and Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

.

Choral and pop culture involvement

He sang with a male quartet called the Cadets on several Chicago-based radio shows, including "The Breakfast Club With Don MacNeil." He later formed the Jack Halloran Quartet, which appeared on the television programs "Dave Garroway at Large" and "The Pat Buttram Show." Relocating to Hollywood, Halloran became a choral director for films, records and television, working with such entertainers as Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers

Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...

, Pat Boone

Pat Boone

Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...

, Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 and Dean Martin

Dean Martin

Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...

. He landed the job as choral director and arranger on The Dean Martin Show

The Dean Martin Show

The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...

while working with the singer on his recording of "Volare." Halloran also organized the Jack Halloran Singers, which performed throughout Southern California. Halloran directed the orchestra and chorus for Bing Crosby's 1959 LP Join Bing and Sing Along. He directed the chorus for Bing's 1962 LPs Great Standards and I Wish You a Merry Christmas and Bing's 1970 LP A Time to Be Jolly. He was also a member of the Ray Conniff Singers

Ray Conniff

Joseph Raymond Conniff was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.-Biography:...

, appearing on such albums as Speak to Me of Love (Columbia

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

, 1963).

Halloran was also a former local president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is a performers' union that represents a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, as well as radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists , promo and voice-over announcers and other...

.

Arrangements and compositions

• America the Beautiful
  America the Beautiful
  "America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
  
  
• Camptown Races
  Camptown Races
  Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was probably composed in Cincinnati in 1849, according to Richard Jackson, and published by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, in February 1850...
  
  
• Christmas Is a Comin'
• Little David, Play on Your Harp
• Nelly Bly
• Pat-A-Pan (Burgundian carol)
• Witness

Witness

Witness (1986) was first released in an a cappella setting for 8-part mixed voices, and within months had sold over 30,000 copies. The following year it topped 50,000 and continued to climb. Today it remains a top seller and an industry standard. Veteran arranger Dick Bolks has revoiced and edited Halloran's setting into an SATB edition with optional accompaniment.