Al Ham

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Al Ham, circa 1950

Albert W. Ham (1925–2001) was an American composer and jingle writer. He was notable as the composer of the Move Closer to Your World music package used since the 1970s on WPVI-TV's Action News broadcasts in Philadelphia, as well as many on many other newscasts in the United States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He was also notable as creator of the Music of Your Life Adult Standards radio format.

Biography

Al Ham began as Bass player for Artie Shaw when he was 17. While attending Amherst College after WWII, Al arranged and played bass for the Tony Pastor Orchestra when the featured singers were Rosemary Clooney and her sister Betty. When Tex Beneke re-formed the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Al joined as arranger and bass player, working with Henry Mancini, then on staff as arranger.

Al Ham and Bill Sargent

During the 50's, Al worked at Columbia Records. Quote: "In the 1950s, I was named director of all special A+R projects under Mitch Miller. During these exciting years I produced records for the following artists: The Ray Conniff Singers, The Ray Conniff Orchestra, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Percy Faith, Jerry Vale, Johnny Mathis, Johnny Ray, Leslie Uggams, Kitty Callen, Guy Mitchell, The Kirby Stone Four, Tony Bennett, the Count Basie Orchestra, Frankie Laine, Jimmy Dean, The Four Lads, and Oscar Brown Jr. Beginning with 'My Fair Lady' Goddard Lieberson, President of Columbia Records, appointed me recording director of all Columbia Records original cast albums.” Al also produced other Original cast best sellers including “West Side Story”, “Most Happy Fella”, “Gypsy”, “House of Flowers”, and “Bells are Ringing”.

During his time as a producer at Columbia, Al brought more to the studio than his knowledge of music and his natural intuition for recognizing hit material. He brought an electronic knowledge that resulted in many technical studio improvements and a “Spatial”- Sound that he put to use when he helped to create the first Stereo LPs issued by Columbia. He worked with Dr. Peter Goldmark, creator of the Long - Playing record, on special circuit projects that broke new ground for stereo, multi - track recordings and broadcast signal processing.

Al Ham with Carol Lynley at the premier of Warner Brother's Harlow, 1965.

In the Commercial Field Al worked consistently as a composer and arranger. His commercials have won many awards for best musical theme and scoring, including CLIO Awards and four gold medal winners at the International Film and Television Festivals. As arranger, composer, or both, Al’s many commercials include “State Farm Insurance” (“Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”), “Breck Shampoo”, “McDonalds” (i.e. “You Deserve a Break Today”), “Gillette”, “Kinney Shoes”, “Woolco”, “Kodak”, and “Scope”.

Al also composed, arranged, and conducted news and station image music packages that have been broadcast by scores of TV stations across the country. They include “Move Closer to Your World”, “Part of Your Life”, “Home Country”, “Bringing it Home to You”, and “On Top of It All”.

In 1978, at WAMB Radio, Music of Your Life

Al’s film credits include the score of the Electronovision version of “Harlow”, which produced the song “I Believed it All”, (Written with Lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman). An Academy Award nomination for his superb adaptation and scoring of Warner Brothers’ “Stop the World— I Want to Get Off”, which he also conducted. And, a Grammy award for the “Best Spoken Word Recording” for his production of James Whitmore’s “Give em’ Hell Harry” on United Artists Records. Al also acted as programmer and associate producer for T.A.M.I. (Teenage Musical International) which featured performances by the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, James Brown, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, Chuck Berry, and many other popular music stars. The show was a front runner of the type of concert programming that is now standard TV fare.

Al’s additional musical credits include his arrangement and production of the tremendous hit “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” by his group, the Hillside Singers, for Metromedia Records, and the brilliant recordings he produced with his group “The Midas Touch” on MCA records. He also received a Grammy nomination for “Best Spoken Word Recording” for “Senator Sam at Home”

In 1978, after years of research, Al created the "Music of your life" radio format, which played on over 200 Radio Stations nationwide.

His television news music packages were syndicated through his company, Mayoham Music.

Conducting "Stop the World — I Want to Get Off!", 1966   Conducting "Stop the World — I Want to Get Off!", 1966‎

News music packages written and composed by Al Ham

• Bringing It Home To You
• Home Country
• Move Closer to Your World
• On Top Of It All
• Part Of Your Life

External links

• Al Ham on IMDb

References