Kritavi
02-25-2006, 01:57 PM
Sounds like Sid made a major contribution to some music most of us love. RIP
Sid Feller, 89; producer teamed with Ray Charles
By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times | February 24, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Sid Feller, a producer and arranger who helped create the rich, orchestral big band sound for Ray Charles that resulted in such hits as ''Georgia on My Mind" and ''I Can't Stop Loving You," has died. He was 89.
Mr. Feller, who had a history of heart trouble, died Feb. 16 at his home in the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village, said his daughter, Debbie Feller Glassman.
From the moment they stepped into a recording studio in 1959, Mr. Feller and Charles clicked in a musical partnership that lasted 30 years and resulted in hundreds of songs. Mr. Feller regularly toured with Charles as a conductor.
''When they were working together, they were soul brothers," Michael Lydon, author of the 1998 biography ''Ray Charles: Man and Music," told the Los Angeles Times. ''Musically, Sid and Ray understood each other perfectly."
Charles, famous for being prickly about his music, ''just adored" Mr. Feller, said David Ritz, who co-wrote Ray's 1978 autobiography, ''Brother Ray."
''Ray told me that 'Sid Feller is as close as I'm ever going to come to having a Jewish mother.' That's how Sid was -- very warm and patient," Ritz said.
In a 2002 interview with Billboard magazine, Charles said of Mr. Feller: ''That's my angel. He . . . knew exactly what I wanted . . . [and] how to make them strings cry."
Sidney Harold Feller was born Dec. 24, 1916, in New York City, one of three children of Michael, an Austrian Jew who sold citrus fruit in a downtown market, and his wife, Riva.
While a Boy Scout, Mr. Feller learned to play trumpet and performed in New York City and the Catskills. The piano entered his life through a third-floor window after his mother agreed to have one hoisted into his family's Brooklyn apartment. A friend helped him learn music theory, but he was completely self-taught as an arranger.
He was taking trumpet lessons in 1938 when he spotted Gertrude Hager, a 16-year-old chorus girl. They married three years later while Mr. Feller was learning to become a bandleader at Army music school in Fort Knox, Ky.
In 1951, he became a conductor and arranger for Capitol Records and made his reputation arranging easy-listening music for Jackie Gleason. At Capitol, and ABC Records beginning in 1955, Mr. Feller also worked with Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Paul Anka, guitarist Charlie Byrd, and Woody Herman's big band.
He had few writing credits, but received one for ''You Can't Say No in Acapulco" for the 1963 Elvis Presley movie ''Fun in Acapulco."
In 1965, Mr. Feller moved to Los Angeles to work as a freelance arranger and producer, including arranging music for NBC's ''The Flip Wilson Show" (1970-74). He also worked with jazz singer Nancy Wilson and Eddie Fisher, retiring from arranging in the late 1980s. With his health failing -- he had a quadruple-bypass in the late 1990s -- Mr. Feller and his wife moved to Ohio to live with his daughter Debbie.
At a screening of the 2004 biographical movie ''Ray," Mr. Feller cried throughout because he said he felt Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning performance brought his friend back to life. Eight of the 17 soundtracks on the movie ''Ray" credited Mr. Feller as producer.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
Sid Feller, 89; producer teamed with Ray Charles
By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times | February 24, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- Sid Feller, a producer and arranger who helped create the rich, orchestral big band sound for Ray Charles that resulted in such hits as ''Georgia on My Mind" and ''I Can't Stop Loving You," has died. He was 89.
Mr. Feller, who had a history of heart trouble, died Feb. 16 at his home in the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village, said his daughter, Debbie Feller Glassman.
From the moment they stepped into a recording studio in 1959, Mr. Feller and Charles clicked in a musical partnership that lasted 30 years and resulted in hundreds of songs. Mr. Feller regularly toured with Charles as a conductor.
''When they were working together, they were soul brothers," Michael Lydon, author of the 1998 biography ''Ray Charles: Man and Music," told the Los Angeles Times. ''Musically, Sid and Ray understood each other perfectly."
Charles, famous for being prickly about his music, ''just adored" Mr. Feller, said David Ritz, who co-wrote Ray's 1978 autobiography, ''Brother Ray."
''Ray told me that 'Sid Feller is as close as I'm ever going to come to having a Jewish mother.' That's how Sid was -- very warm and patient," Ritz said.
In a 2002 interview with Billboard magazine, Charles said of Mr. Feller: ''That's my angel. He . . . knew exactly what I wanted . . . [and] how to make them strings cry."
Sidney Harold Feller was born Dec. 24, 1916, in New York City, one of three children of Michael, an Austrian Jew who sold citrus fruit in a downtown market, and his wife, Riva.
While a Boy Scout, Mr. Feller learned to play trumpet and performed in New York City and the Catskills. The piano entered his life through a third-floor window after his mother agreed to have one hoisted into his family's Brooklyn apartment. A friend helped him learn music theory, but he was completely self-taught as an arranger.
He was taking trumpet lessons in 1938 when he spotted Gertrude Hager, a 16-year-old chorus girl. They married three years later while Mr. Feller was learning to become a bandleader at Army music school in Fort Knox, Ky.
In 1951, he became a conductor and arranger for Capitol Records and made his reputation arranging easy-listening music for Jackie Gleason. At Capitol, and ABC Records beginning in 1955, Mr. Feller also worked with Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Paul Anka, guitarist Charlie Byrd, and Woody Herman's big band.
He had few writing credits, but received one for ''You Can't Say No in Acapulco" for the 1963 Elvis Presley movie ''Fun in Acapulco."
In 1965, Mr. Feller moved to Los Angeles to work as a freelance arranger and producer, including arranging music for NBC's ''The Flip Wilson Show" (1970-74). He also worked with jazz singer Nancy Wilson and Eddie Fisher, retiring from arranging in the late 1980s. With his health failing -- he had a quadruple-bypass in the late 1990s -- Mr. Feller and his wife moved to Ohio to live with his daughter Debbie.
At a screening of the 2004 biographical movie ''Ray," Mr. Feller cried throughout because he said he felt Jamie Foxx's Oscar-winning performance brought his friend back to life. Eight of the 17 soundtracks on the movie ''Ray" credited Mr. Feller as producer.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.