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Born Alton Glenn Miller in Clarinda, Iowa on March 1, 1904, Glenn Miller was a trombone player and the most famous swing/big band leader of all time. Raised on a farm in Iowa, Miller became interested in dance band music while still at school. He eventually dropped out of university to concentrate on music and, after playing with various bands, he co-wrote his first composition “Room 1411” with Benny Goodman and released it as a single. In 1928, he moved to New York, playing in pit orchestras at Broadway shows before joining the Dorsey Brothers orchestra in the 1930s. In 1937, he formed his own band and, between 1939 and 1942, he was the country’s best selling recording artist thanks to tracks like “In the Mood”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, “Moonlight Serenade”, “Tuxedo Junction”, “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, and “Little Brown Jug”. He appeared in various films and was featured regularly on the radio. In 1942, at the peak of his civilian career, Glenn Miller decided to join the war effort. Initially, he volunteered for the Navy but when he was told they didn’t need his services, he convinced the United States Army to accept him so that he could be in charge of the Army band. He played the last show with his civilian band on September 27, 1942 and became a member of the U.S. Army less than two weeks later on October 8, 1942. He was given the rank of captain and initially served at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. While there, he played trombone in the 15-piece band Rhythmaires. He had his own weekly radio broadcast, I Sustain the Wings, which was extremely popular. Initially, some high-ranking officials were hesitant to allow Glenn Miller’s attempts to modernize military music, but by the summer of 1944, he was allowed to form the 50-piece Army Air Force Band and take it to England. The band gave 800 performances while also recording a series of propaganda broadcasts at Abbey Road Studios, which were used for entertainment and counter propaganda to denounce fascist oppression in Europe. Back at Abbey Road, Miller’s Army Air Force Band recorded with singer/actress Dinah Shore. These ended up being Glenn Miller’s final recordings. Many of these recordings with Dinah Shore were not released commercially until the copyright expired 50 years later in 1994. On December 15, 1944, while flying to Paris, France to make arrangements for his band to move there, Glenn Miller’s plane disappeared while flying over the English Channel and has never been found. He was posthumously present the Bronze Star on March 24, 1945. Some of the original Army Air Force Band recordings were compiled over the years and featured on compilations such as Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band (1955), Marvelous Miller Moods (1957), American Rhapsody (1978), Golden Serenade (1981), and many more.
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