Richard Hayman, longtime SLSO pops conductor, dies at 93

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | February 5, 2014 | Sarah Bryan Miller

[EveningStar]

Richard Hayman went from harmonica player to music arranger to pops conductor, all without any formal musical training. Along the way, he made arranged the music for Hollywood movies, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, did arrangements for the Boston Pops for more than 50 years, and founded and ran the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s pops concerts for three decades, while drawing on a seemingly endless collection of sequined jackets.

Mr. Hayman died Wednesday (Feb. 5, 2014) in New York City, of natural causes. He was 93, and had recently entered hospice care.

[EveningStar]

Wikipedia

[EveningStar]

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[Salvey]

A wonderful talent. His “Ruby” was a huge hit when I was a kid. RIP.

[sitetest]

Dear EveningStar,

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sitetest

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Sad to hear - I still have my original record of “Ruby” as well as a follow-up recording, “Somersault”, which was a three minute harmonica takeoff on Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” and a great way to help transition from the world of “soft” classical music such as was heard on some of the popular radio shows of the day to the “hard” stuff - I also still have my album of his “Havana in Hi-Fi”, with its “Rhapsodero” and “Del Prado”, filling a little eighth-grader’s head with visions of an exciting world far away - RIP......