Percy Faith

Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor,[1] known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s.[1] Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s.[citation needed]

Percy Faith was a child piano prodigy, but his hands were burned in a fire at age 18. Switching to conducting and arranging, his unique orchestral 'sound', with strong emphasis on creative string work, soon became familiar to listeners everywhere. He recorded 85 albums for Columbia Records, and three hit singles: "Delicado" (1952), "Theme from 'Moulin Rouge'" (1953), and "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (1960). Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Tony Bennett all considered Percy Faith among their favorite accompanists.

Faith was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1] He was the oldest of eight children. His parents, Abraham Faith and Minnie, née Rottenberg, were Jewish. He played violin and piano as a child, and played in theatres and at Massey Hall. After his hands were badly burned in a fire, he turned to conducting, and his live orchestras used the new medium of radio broadcasting.

Beginning with stations CKNC and CKCL, Faith was a staple of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's live-music broadcasting from 1933 to 1940, when he resettled in Chicago, Illinois, Chicago.[1] In the early 1940s, Faith was orchestra leader for the Carnation Contented program on NBC.[2] From 1948-1949 he also served as the orchestra leader on the CBS radio network program The Coca-Cola Hour (also called The Pause That Refreshes). The orchestral accordionist John Serry Sr. collaborated with Faith in these broadcasts.[3]

In 1945, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He made many recordings for Voice of America. After working briefly for Decca Records, he worked for Mitch Miller at Columbia Records, where he turned out dozens of albums and provided arrangements for many of the pop singers of the 1950s, including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis for Mathis's 1958 Christmas album titled Merry Christmas, and Guy Mitchell for whom Faith co-wrote with Carl Sigman Mitchell's number-one single, "My Heart Cries for You".[1]

His most famous and remembered recordings are "Delicado" (1952), "The Song from Moulin Rouge" (1953) and "Theme from A Summer Place" (1959),[1] which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1961. Faith remains the only artist to have the best selling single of the year during both the pop singer era ("Song from Moulin Rouge") and the rock era ("Theme from A Summer Place"); and he is one of only three artists, along with Elvis Presley and The Beatles, to have the best selling single of the year twice. The B-side of "Song from the Moulin Rouge" was "Swedish Rhapsody" by Hugo Alfvén. In 1961 his fame in Sweden rose exponentially as his work Mucho Gusto became the theme music for the sports broadcasts of Sveriges Radio.

Though Faith initially mined the worlds of Broadway, Hollywood and Latin music for many of his top-selling 1950s recordings, he enjoyed popularity starting in 1962 with his orchestral versions of popular rock and pop hits of the day. His Themes for Young Lovers album was a top seller during this era and introduced the Faith sound to a younger generation of listeners. With the success of Columbia record-mate Ray Conniff's chorus and orchestra during this same time, Faith began using a chorus (usually all female in most of his recordings, but used a mixed chorus on his albums Leaving on a Jet Plane and I Think I Love You, which were released in 1970 and 1971 respectively) in several popular albums from the mid-1960s on. Faith's first single with a female chorus, "Yellow Days," was a substantial hit in the MOR (Middle of the Road) easy listening radio format of the mid-1960s. Faith continued to enjoy airplay and consistent album sales throughout the early 1970s, and received a second Grammy award in 1969 for his album Love Theme from 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Though best known for his recording career, Faith also occasionally scored motion pictures, and received an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of the song score for the Doris Day musical feature, Love Me or Leave Me.[1] His other film scores included romantic comedies and dramatic features such as Tammy Tell Me True (1961), I'd Rather Be Rich (1964), The Third Day (1965) and The Oscar (1966).[1] Faith also composed the theme for the NBC series The Virginian.

With the advent of harder rock sounds in the 1970s, Faith's elegant arrangements fell out of favour with the listening and record-buying public, although he continued to release albums as diverse and contemporary as Jesus Christ Superstar and Black Magic Woman. He released one album of country music and two albums of disco-oriented arrangements toward the end of his forty-year career, his very last recording being a disco-style reworking of "Theme from a Summer Place", titled "Summer Place '76", which was a minor and posthumous hit. Faith died of cancer in Encino, California,[1] and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

His wife, Mary (Palange) Faith, was born November 24, 1909, and died November 27, 1997, in Los Angeles. They married in 1928 and had two children, Marilyn and Peter.

Musician. Born in Toronto, Canada, he was orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his arrangements of popular easy listening music. His career spanned five decades in radio, television, movies, Broadway and live concerts. As the musical director of Columbia Records in the 1950s, he arranged and conducted hit records by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis and Sarah Vaughan. Many of his songs were classic instrumentals to include the Oscar-nominated "I'll Never Stop Loving You" (1955), Grammy Awards, Record of the Year for "Theme From A Summer Place" (1960) and "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet" (1969). He died in Encino, California.

Best known for his 1960 number-one single "Theme from A Summer Place," composer, arranger, and bandleader Percy Faith was identified with the easy-listening music of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet his career spanned five decades in radio, television, movies, Broadway, and live concerts. As the musical director of Columbia Records in the 1950s, Faith also arranged and conducted hit records by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Sarah Vaughan.

He was educated at the Toronto Conservatory, and studied with Louis Waizman and Frank Wellman. Beginning as a film-theatre pianist, he moved on to dance orchestras, and conducted his own orchestra on radio in 1931, then became staff arranger and conductor for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He came to the USA in 1940. Joining ASCAP in 1949, his chief musical collaborator was Carl Sigman, and his popular-song and instrumental compositions include "My Heart Cries For You", "The Love Goddess", "The Virginian Theme", "Music Through the Night", "Cheerio", "March of the Junior Scouts", "Buy a Bond For Victory", "The Snow Goose", "Aphrodite", "Noche Caribe", "Perpetual Notion", "Nervous Gavotte", "Contrasts", "Brazilian Sleighbells", and "Carefree".

His recording of "Theme from 'A Summer Place'" (Columbia: 1960) spent seventeen weeks on the American pop charts beginning in January, 1960, including nine weeks at number one, making it the biggest-selling instrumental hit of the rock era to date. The single ultimately won a Gold Record, the R.I.A.A. standard up until 1976, for more than one million copies sold. One of the most popular composer/arrnger/conductors of the so-called "Golden Age of Mood Music," his best-selling albums from more than two decades on Columbia records include "Amour, Amor, Amore," "Themes for Young Lovers," "Music from 'My Fair Lady,'" "The Columbia Album of Victor Herbert," "The Beatles Album," "Held Over," "Bouquet," "Tara's Theme from 'Gone With the Wind,'" "Joy," "The Music of Christmas," "Latin Themes for Young Lovers," "Bim! Bam!! Boom!!!," "Today's Themes for Young Lovers," "Summer Place '76," and, perhaps inevitably, "Percy Faith's Greatest Hits." His recording of "Theme from A Summer Place" was the biggest selling single of 1960 in America. He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1501 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

He was born on April 7, 1908, in Toronto, Ontario, the eldest of eight children of Abraham and Minnie (Rotenberg) Faith. The family lived in the Kensington Market area of Toronto, then a working-class section of the city with a large population of Jewish immigrants. His father worked as a tailor, but his uncle was a noted violinist. Faith began violin lessons at the age of seven, but he switched to the piano shortly afterward. By the time he was eleven Faith was accomplished enough to give his first public performance at Toronto’s lola Flicker movie theater in the city’s east end. Four years later, while studying classical music with Frank Welsman at the Toronto Conservatory of Music was the Royal Conservatory of Music (as the called), Faith made his concert debut at Massey Hall, Toronto’s most prestigious concert venue. In the meantime, Faith earned extra money by playing the piano in movie theaters as an accompanist to silent films.

Faith’s future as a concert pianist seemed promising until an accident derailed his plans at the age of eighteen. When his younger sister’s clothing caught on fire, Faith put out the flames with his hands. This saved his sister’s life but damaged his hands so badly that he couldn’t play the piano for nine months. Although the accident spurred his interests in arranging and composing, Faith eventually dropped out of the Toronto Conservatory of Music without finishing his degree. In 1928 he married the former Mary Palange; the marriage lasted until Faith’s death in 1976 and produced two children.

Despite his lack of formal credentials, Faith’s experience as a hotel and theater orchestra conductor helped him land a position as an arranger and conductor at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in the early 1930s. In 1937 Faith became a celebrity in his own right with the debut of the program Music by Faith. Picked up by the Mutual Network, Music by Faith also aired throughout the United States, making him one of

the best known radio orchestra conductors of the era in North America. He was appointed music director for the CBC broadcasts of King George Vl’s royal visit to Canada in 1939, and conducted the CBC Orchestra at Massey Hall for a concert by American pianist and raconteur Oscar Levant in 1940. The concert concluded with nine encores and burnished Faith’s reputation as an outstanding and innovative conductor.

Music by Faith ran on CBC and Mutual through 1940, when Faith joined the NBC network’s Carnation Contented Hour after its conductor, Josef Pasternak, died of a heart attack. Faith claimed that budget cuts at CBC precipitated his decision to leave Canada, although he also alleged that anti-Semitism at the network had caused him to question his future there. After a brief stint in Chicago with Carnation Contented Hour, Faith moved to New York City in 1941. Around that time Faith began the naturalization process and became an American citizen. He stayed with NBC through 1947, when he moved to CBS, becoming musical director of the Coca-Cola-sponsored The Pause That Refreshes and, later, The Woolworth Hour. He stayed at CBS through the 1950s.

Faith began recording on various labels in the 1940s, but it was his association with Columbia Records that defined the remainder of his career. In 1950 the label released Your Dance Date with Percy Faith, the first of more than 60 albums issued by Columbia over the next quarter-century. In 1951, after Faith became the label’s musical director in charge of artists and repertoire, his ability to match singers and hit songs with just the right arrangements and backing orchestration became immediately apparent. Tony Bennett, who’d had a run of failed singles on Columbia, had a million-selling hit with "Because of You," a song suggested by Faith. Rosemary Clooney’s "Come on-a My House" became one of the biggest hits of the early 1950s. Faith also worked with Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan, and Doris Day, who was so impressed with Faith’s arrangements that she insisted he work on her dramatic breakthrough film Love Me or Leave Me. Faith’s work on the score (with Georgie Stoll) earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1955. He also had a major success with his orchestral version of the movie theme "The Song from Moulin Rouge" in 1953 (usually known by the title "Where Is Your Heart?").

In 1960 Faith and his family moved from New York to Los Angeles. He continued to release at least one album on Columbia each year, and often as many as three. The albums included Faith’s recordings of his arrangements for the Broadway hits Camelot (1960) and The Sound of Music (1960); easy-listening instrumental albums such as Today’s Themes for Young Lovers (1967) and For Those in Love (1968); movie soundtracks such as Theme from The ’In’ Crowd (1966) and Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (1969); and excursions into Latin music on The Music of Brazil! (1962) and Latin Themes for Young Lovers (1965). Faith’s greatest popular success came with the release of his recording of "Theme from A Summer Place" a 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as young lovers. Under Faith’s lilting arrangement, the Max Steiner composition hit number one on the American charts for nine weeks in 1960. It also earned Faith a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. In 1969 Faith added a second Grammy to his collection when he won in the Other Pop/Rock and Roll/Contemporary or Instrumental Recording category for "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet." In all, Faith completed the scores for eleven movies.

The astounding success of "Theme from A Summer Place," which Joseph Lanza described as "the most identifiable easy-listening soundmark," permanently linked Faith with the easy-listening genre, despite the wide range of his work. Although his arrangements were typically complex and sophisticated, to some the resulting sound was simple and saccharine. His prolific recorded output also tended to bring critical disdain. As Gary Marmorstein dismissively summarized Faith’s career in his 1997 book Hollywood Rhapsody: Movie Music and Its Makers, 1900-1975, "Like other popular conductors with greater tools at their disposal… Faith turned out album after album of ’easy listening’ music."

Never a musical snob himself, Faith recorded instrumental versions of popular rock tunes in the 1970s, including Leaving on a Jet Plane (1970), The Beatles Album (1970), and Black Magic Woman (1971). He also indulged his love of Latin music on Corazon (1973) and even dipped into disco to rework his biggest hit on Summer Place’76(1975). On February 9, 1976, Faith died from cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 67.

Selected discography

• Fiesta Time, Decca, 1948.
• Your Dance Date with Percy Faith, Columbia, 1950.
• American Waltzes, Columbia, 1951.
• Carefree Rhythms, Columbia, 1951.
• Percy Faith, Columbia, 1952.
• Carnival Rhythms, Columbia, 1953.
• Music Until Midnight, Columbia, 1953.
• Continental Music, Columbia, 1954.
• Kismet, Columbia, 1954.
• Music of Christmas, Columbia, 1954.
• Romantic Music, Columbia, 1954.
• Festival of Strings, Columbia, 1955.
• Girl Meets Boy, Columbia, 1955.
• It’s So Peaceful in the Country, Columbia, 1956.
• My Fair Lady, Columbia, 1956.
• Passport to Romance, Columbia, 1956.
• Swing Low in Hi-Fi, Columbia, 1956.
• The Most Happy Fella, Columbia, 1956.
• South Pacific, Columbia, 1957.
• Viva! The Music of Mexico, Columbia, 1958.
• A Night with Jerome Kern, Columbia, 1959.
• A Night with Sigmund Romberg, Columbia, 1959.
• Bouquet, Columbia, 1959.
• Porgy and Bess, Columbia, 1959.
• Camelot, Columbia, 1960.
• Jealousy, Columbia, 1960.
• The Sound of Music, Columbia, 1960.
• Carefree: The Music of Percy Faith, Columbia, 1961.
• Mucho Gusto! More Music of Mexico, Columbia, 1961.
• Subways Are for Sleeping, Columbia, 1961.
• Bouquet of Love, Columbia, 1962.
• Exotic Strings, Columbia, 1962.
• Music of Brazill, Columbia, 1962.
• Shangri-La!, Columbia, 1963.
• Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1963.
• Great Folk Themes, Columbia, 1964.
• More Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1964.
• Broadway Bouquet, Columbia, 1965.
• Do I Hear a Waltz?, Columbia, 1965.
• Latin Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1965.
• Bim! Bam!! Boom!!!, Columbia, 1966.
• Christmas Is…, Columbia, 1966.
• Theme from The "In" Crowd, Columbia, 1966.
• Today’s Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1967.
• For Those in Love, Columbia, 1968.
• Those Were the Days, Columbia, 1969.
• Windmills of Your Mind, Columbia, 1969.
• Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet, Columbia, 1969.
• Leaving on a Jet Plane, Columbia, 1970.
• Beatles Album, Columbia, 1970.
• Black Magic Woman, Columbia, 1971.
• I Think I Love You, Columbia, 1971.
• Jesus Christ, Superstar, Columbia, 1971.
• Joy, Columbia, 1972.
• Corázon, Columbia, 1973.
• My Love, Columbia, 1973.
• Koga Melodies, Columbia, 1974.
• New Thing, Columbia, 1974.
• Country Bouquet, Columbia, 1975.
• Summer Place ’76, Columbia, 1975.
• Sixteen Most Requested Songs, Columbia, 1978.
• Christmas Melodies, Columbia, 1984.
• Ultimate Collection, Sony, 2002.

Faith produced the following singles:[4][5]

I Cross My Fingers {Vocal: Russ Emery} US #20, 1950

All My Love (US #7, 1950)

Christmas in Killarney {Vocals: Shillelagh Singers} US #28 – December 1950

On Top of Old Smokey {Vocals: Burl Ives} US #10, 1951

When the Saints Go Marching In / (US #29 – September 1951)

I Want to Be Near You (US #30 – September 1951)

Delicado (US #1, 1952)

Swedish Rhapsody (Midsummer Vigil) / (US #21, 1953)

Moulin Rouge Theme {Vocals: Felicia Sanders} US #1, 1953

Return to Paradise (US #19 – June 1953)

Many Times (US #30 – December 1953)

Dream, Dream, Dream (US #25 – May 1954)

The Bandit (US #25 – October 1954)

Valley Valparaiso (US #53, 1956)

We All Need Love (US #67, 1956)

With a Little Bit of Luck (US #82, 1956)

Till (US #63, 1957)

Theme from A Summer Place (US #1, 1960)

Theme for Young Lovers (US #35, 1960)

Sons and Lovers (US #111 – September 1963)

Theme from "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (US #101 – November 1960)

The Sound of Surf (US #111 – September 1963)

Yellow Days (AC #13, 1967)

Can't Take My Eyes Off You (AC #24, 1967)

For Those in Love (1968)

Zorba (AC #36, 1969)

Theme from A Summer Place (instrumental) US #111 – July 1969 – AC #26, 1969

The April Fools (1969)

Airport Love Theme (1970)

Everything's All Right (AC #31 – February 1971)

Theme from Summer of '42 (1971)

Bach's Lunch (1972)

Crunchy Granola Suite (AC #16, 1973)

Hill Where the Lord Hides (AC #44, 1974)

Theme from "Chinatown" (AC #35, 1974)

Summer Place '76 (AC #13, 1976)

פרסי פיית'

''''''נולד ב-7.4.1908 נפטר ב-9 פברואר 1976. קנדי, מלחין, מנצח, מנהל תזמורת ידוע. אין עליו ערך בעברית בויקיפדיה.

Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor,[1] known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s.[1] Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s.[citation needed]

Best known for his 1960 number-one single "Theme from A Summer Place," composer, arranger, and bandleader Percy Faith was identified with the easy-listening music of the 1950s and 1960s. Yet his career spanned five decades in radio, television, movies, Broadway, and live concerts. As the musical director of Columbia Records in the 1950s, Faith also arranged and conducted hit records by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Sarah Vaughan.

He was born on April 7, 1908, in Toronto, Ontario, the eldest of eight children of Abraham and Minnie (Rotenberg) Faith. The family lived in the Kensington Market area of Toronto, then a working-class section of the city with a large population of Jewish immigrants. His father worked as a tailor, but his uncle was a noted violinist. Faith began violin lessons at the age of seven, but he switched to the piano shortly afterward. By the time he was eleven Faith was accomplished enough to give his first public performance at Toronto’s lola Flicker movie theater in the city’s east end. Four years later, while studying classical music with Frank Welsman at the Toronto Conservatory of Music was the Royal Conservatory of Music (as the called), Faith made his concert debut at Massey Hall, Toronto’s most prestigious concert venue. In the meantime, Faith earned extra money by playing the piano in movie theaters as an accompanist to silent films.

Faith’s future as a concert pianist seemed promising until an accident derailed his plans at the age of eighteen. When his younger sister’s clothing caught on fire, Faith put out the flames with his hands. This saved his sister’s life but damaged his hands so badly that he couldn’t play the piano for nine months. Although the accident spurred his interests in arranging and composing, Faith eventually dropped out of the Toronto Conservatory of Music without finishing his degree. In 1928 he married the former Mary Palange; the marriage lasted until Faith’s death in 1976 and produced two children.

Despite his lack of formal credentials, Faith’s experience as a hotel and theater orchestra conductor helped him land a position as an arranger and conductor at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in the early 1930s. In 1937 Faith became a celebrity in his own right with the debut of the program Music by Faith. Picked up by the Mutual Network, Music by Faith also aired throughout the United States, making him one of

the best known radio orchestra conductors of the era in North America. He was appointed music director for the CBC broadcasts of King George Vl’s royal visit to Canada in 1939, and conducted the CBC Orchestra at Massey Hall for a concert by American pianist and raconteur Oscar Levant in 1940. The concert concluded with nine encores and burnished Faith’s reputation as an outstanding and innovative conductor.

Music by Faith ran on CBC and Mutual through 1940, when Faith joined the NBC network’s Carnation Contented Hour after its conductor, Josef Pasternak, died of a heart attack. Faith claimed that budget cuts at CBC precipitated his decision to leave Canada, although he also alleged that anti-Semitism at the network had caused him to question his future there. After a brief stint in Chicago with Carnation Contented Hour, Faith moved to New York City in 1941. Around that time Faith began the naturalization process and became an American citizen. He stayed with NBC through 1947, when he moved to CBS, becoming musical director of the Coca-Cola-sponsored The Pause That Refreshes and, later, The Woolworth Hour. He stayed at CBS through the 1950s.

Faith began recording on various labels in the 1940s, but it was his association with Columbia Records that defined the remainder of his career. In 1950 the label released Your Dance Date with Percy Faith, the first of more than 60 albums issued by Columbia over the next quarter-century. In 1951, after Faith became the label’s musical director in charge of artists and repertoire, his ability to match singers and hit songs with just the right arrangements and backing orchestration became immediately apparent. Tony Bennett, who’d had a run of failed singles on Columbia, had a million-selling hit with "Because of You," a song suggested by Faith. Rosemary Clooney’s "Come on-a My House" became one of the biggest hits of the early 1950s. Faith also worked with Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan, and Doris Day, who was so impressed with Faith’s arrangements that she insisted he work on her dramatic breakthrough film Love Me or Leave Me. Faith’s work on the score (with Georgie Stoll) earned him an Academy Award nomination in 1955. He also had a major success with his orchestral version of the movie theme "The Song from Moulin Rouge" in 1953 (usually known by the title "Where Is Your Heart?").

In 1960 Faith and his family moved from New York to Los Angeles. He continued to release at least one album on Columbia each year, and often as many as three. The albums included Faith’s recordings of his arrangements for the Broadway hits Camelot (1960) and The Sound of Music (1960); easy-listening instrumental albums such as Today’s Themes for Young Lovers (1967) and For Those in Love (1968); movie soundtracks such as Theme from The ’In’ Crowd (1966) and Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (1969); and excursions into Latin music on The Music of Brazil! (1962) and Latin Themes for Young Lovers (1965). Faith’s greatest popular success came with the release of his recording of "Theme from A Summer Place" a 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue as young lovers. Under Faith’s lilting arrangement, the Max Steiner composition hit number one on the American charts for nine weeks in 1960. It also earned Faith a Grammy Award for Record of the Year. In 1969 Faith added a second Grammy to his collection when he won in the Other Pop/Rock and Roll/Contemporary or Instrumental Recording category for "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet." In all, Faith completed the scores for eleven movies.

The astounding success of "Theme from A Summer Place," which Joseph Lanza described as "the most identifiable easy-listening soundmark," permanently linked Faith with the easy-listening genre, despite the wide range of his work. Although his arrangements were typically complex and sophisticated, to some the resulting sound was simple and saccharine. His prolific recorded output also tended to bring critical disdain. As Gary Marmorstein dismissively summarized Faith’s career in his 1997 book Hollywood Rhapsody: Movie Music and Its Makers, 1900-1975, "Like other popular conductors with greater tools at their disposal… Faith turned out album after album of ’easy listening’ music."

Never a musical snob himself, Faith recorded instrumental versions of popular rock tunes in the 1970s, including Leaving on a Jet Plane (1970), The Beatles Album (1970), and Black Magic Woman (1971). He also indulged his love of Latin music on Corazon (1973) and even dipped into disco to rework his biggest hit on Summer Place’76(1975). On February 9, 1976, Faith died from cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 67.

Selected discography

• Fiesta Time, Decca, 1948.
• Your Dance Date with Percy Faith, Columbia, 1950.
• American Waltzes, Columbia, 1951.
• Carefree Rhythms, Columbia, 1951.
• Percy Faith, Columbia, 1952.
• Carnival Rhythms, Columbia, 1953.
• Music Until Midnight, Columbia, 1953.
• Continental Music, Columbia, 1954.
• Kismet, Columbia, 1954.
• Music of Christmas, Columbia, 1954.
• Romantic Music, Columbia, 1954.
• Festival of Strings, Columbia, 1955.
• Girl Meets Boy, Columbia, 1955.
• It’s So Peaceful in the Country, Columbia, 1956.
• My Fair Lady, Columbia, 1956.
• Passport to Romance, Columbia, 1956.
• Swing Low in Hi-Fi, Columbia, 1956.
• The Most Happy Fella, Columbia, 1956.
• South Pacific, Columbia, 1957.
• Viva! The Music of Mexico, Columbia, 1958.
• A Night with Jerome Kern, Columbia, 1959.
• A Night with Sigmund Romberg, Columbia, 1959.
• Bouquet, Columbia, 1959.
• Porgy and Bess, Columbia, 1959.
• Camelot, Columbia, 1960.
• Jealousy, Columbia, 1960.
• The Sound of Music, Columbia, 1960.
• Carefree: The Music of Percy Faith, Columbia, 1961.
• Mucho Gusto! More Music of Mexico, Columbia, 1961.
• Subways Are for Sleeping, Columbia, 1961.
• Bouquet of Love, Columbia, 1962.
• Exotic Strings, Columbia, 1962.
• Music of Brazill, Columbia, 1962.
• Shangri-La!, Columbia, 1963.
• Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1963.
• Great Folk Themes, Columbia, 1964.
• More Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1964.
• Broadway Bouquet, Columbia, 1965.
• Do I Hear a Waltz?, Columbia, 1965.
• Latin Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1965.
• Bim! Bam!! Boom!!!, Columbia, 1966.
• Christmas Is…, Columbia, 1966.
• Theme from The "In" Crowd, Columbia, 1966.
• Today’s Themes for Young Lovers, Columbia, 1967.
• For Those in Love, Columbia, 1968.
• Those Were the Days, Columbia, 1969.
• Windmills of Your Mind, Columbia, 1969.
• Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet, Columbia, 1969.
• Leaving on a Jet Plane, Columbia, 1970.
• Beatles Album, Columbia, 1970.
• Black Magic Woman, Columbia, 1971.
• I Think I Love You, Columbia, 1971.
• Jesus Christ, Superstar, Columbia, 1971.
• Joy, Columbia, 1972.
• Corázon, Columbia, 1973.
• My Love, Columbia, 1973.
• Koga Melodies, Columbia, 1974.
• New Thing, Columbia, 1974.
• Country Bouquet, Columbia, 1975.
• Summer Place ’76, Columbia, 1975.
• Sixteen Most Requested Songs, Columbia, 1978.
• Christmas Melodies, Columbia, 1984.
• Ultimate Collection, Sony, 2002.

Faith produced the following singles:[4][5]

I Cross My Fingers {Vocal: Russ Emery} US #20, 1950

All My Love (US #7, 1950)

Christmas in Killarney {Vocals: Shillelagh Singers} US #28 – December 1950

On Top of Old Smokey {Vocals: Burl Ives} US #10, 1951

When the Saints Go Marching In / (US #29 – September 1951)

I Want to Be Near You (US #30 – September 1951)

Delicado (US #1, 1952)

Swedish Rhapsody (Midsummer Vigil) / (US #21, 1953)

Moulin Rouge Theme {Vocals: Felicia Sanders} US #1, 1953

Return to Paradise (US #19 – June 1953)

Many Times (US #30 – December 1953)

Dream, Dream, Dream (US #25 – May 1954)

The Bandit (US #25 – October 1954)

Valley Valparaiso (US #53, 1956)

We All Need Love (US #67, 1956)

With a Little Bit of Luck (US #82, 1956)

Till (US #63, 1957)

Theme from A Summer Place (US #1, 1960)

Theme for Young Lovers (US #35, 1960)

Sons and Lovers (US #111 – September 1963)

Theme from "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (US #101 – November 1960)

The Sound of Surf (US #111 – September 1963)

Yellow Days (AC #13, 1967)

Can't Take My Eyes Off You (AC #24, 1967)

For Those in Love (1968)

Zorba (AC #36, 1969)

Theme from A Summer Place (instrumental) US #111 – July 1969 – AC #26, 1969

The April Fools (1969)

Airport Love Theme (1970)

Everything's All Right (AC #31 – February 1971)

Theme from Summer of '42 (1971)

Bach's Lunch (1972)

Crunchy Granola Suite (AC #16, 1973)

Hill Where the Lord Hides (AC #44, 1974)

Theme from "Chinatown" (AC #35, 1974)

Summer Place '76 (AC #13, 1976)