Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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KELLY, Monty

(b 8 June 1910, Oakland CA; d 15 March 1971) Trumpeter, arranger, bandleader. Toured Australia on trumpet at age 17; joined Paul Whiteman's band and played on Whiteman's record with Billie Holiday in 1942; joined the Skinnay Ennis band after WWII on Bob Hope's radio show. Landing in New York he worked for NBC, began arranging and leading an orchestra, backing Al Martino on a no. 1 hit in 1952 (his first hit, 'Here In My Heart' on a BBS label), and Bob Manning in 1953. (Manning b Manny Levin, 1 February 1926, Philadelphia; he sang with Art Mooney, replaced in that band by Martino. 'The Nearness Of You' was a Top 20, Manning's only chart hit, on Capitol.) 

Kelly's own albums of light music are still valued by fans. 'Tropicana' was a hit Kelly single on Essex '53, with the very nice Hollywoodish 'Life In New York' on the flip: one source credits Kelly with 'Tropicana', but they were both written by Bernie Wayne (see his entry). Kelly's revival of the chestnut 'Three O'Clock In The Morning' also did well that year and his was named 'most promising orchestra' by Cash Box, but this was almost the last gasp of the genre called 'popular instrumental'. He wrote arrangements for albums by 101 Strings on the budget Somerset label, which sold well in the '50s-60s; 45 of these were reissued on CD on an Alshire label by '95, but they never did have any documentation, so nobody knows who did what. He arranged a choir of guitars for Guy Mitchell's last album on Columbia, Sunshine Guitar, and made Concert Extravaganza with pipe organist Buddy Cole; he came back with 'Summer Set' '60 on Carlton.