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Tommy Tucker (2)

American big band leader, musician and songwriter. Born 1903 in Souris, North Dakota, USA. Died 1989 in Sarasota, Florida, USA. Tucker came from a musical family and was doing recitals from an early age. He played the piano, trumpet and trombone. He received a degree in classical music from the University of North Dakota in 1924. His schoolmates organized an orchestra for summer engagements around the Minnesota lakes a year after graduating and being jobless, he joined them. When the orchestra disbanded to return to school, Tommy reorganized the group into his first band. His first recordings listed the group as Tommy Tucker and His Californians, with Tucker singing all the vocals. Success came slowly. By 1935, he had formed another band, which, for the most part, set his style for the next 25 years. The Tucker Orchestra featured music for slow, romantic dancing and played in ballrooms and hotels throughout the U.S. “ I Love You (Oh How I Love You)” was the theme song of the Tommy Tucker Orchestra; it was written by Tucker himself. From 1936 to 1937, the orchestra played on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio program and, in 1938, the George Jessell Show. In 1941, the Tucker Orchestra made its biggest recording, “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire,” featuring singer Amy Amell; it reached #4 in the U.S. It was that year that Tommy Tucker met his future wife, Broadway actress Virginia "Dare" Miller, whom he married later that year. He charted in the U.S. five times from 1940-1945 including "The Man That Comes Around" (which Tucker co-wrote with by John Lair); it hit #9 in the U.S. in 1940 (as Tommy Tucker Time with vocals by Gil Mershon).He simultaneously owned a songwriting company and founded the Tommy Tucker School of Music. Tucker retired from the band business in 1959, and taught English in a local high school, then created the music department at Monmouth College in West Long Branch, New Jersey. He remained at the college for 18 years, conducting the school's concert band and taught classes for the school's degree programs in music and music education. He eventually became the dean. In 1978, he retired and moved to Florida in 1979.