Glenn Miller

A clarinet-led reed section gave Miller's band its characteristic sound. Its recordings include Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood, Chattanooga Choo Choo and A String of Pearls. A trombonist and arranger by trade, he had spent years writing for other people's bands before his own succeeded. At the height of that success he broke it up to lead the Army Air Force Band, and in December 1944 the aircraft carrying him to Paris disappeared over the English Channel. He was forty. Ben Pollack's band and the Dorsey brothers had employed him before he formed his own orchestra in 1937 and rebuilt it the following year. Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives carried the band into the cinema, and he enlisted in 1942. Glenn Miller was born on 1 March 1904 at Clarinda, Iowa. Chattanooga Choo Choo, drawn from Sun Valley Serenade, earned him a gold record award in 1942 for sales of 1.2 million copies. He volunteered for the American military in 1942 and held the rank of Major in the Army Air Forces. The Bronze Star was awarded to him posthumously; his name stands on the Tablets of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England, and a memorial headstone was set for him at Arlington.