Big Band Composer and Arranger. He was born Miko Stephanovic in Berlin and died in Hollywood. He was a jazz and swing musician, who played several instruments and wrote over a hundred instrumental compositions. An important figure of the big-band era, he also created a signature theme for the Three Stooges, and his work in films included scoring Walt Disney shorts and devising a dance arrangement for Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. He is also remembered for a system for composing that is still widely used by professional musicians. He arrived to the United States at the age of four and grew up in Salt Lake City, becoming Lyle Murphy, nicknamed "Spud". In 1935-36 he scored over a hundred numbers for the Let's Dance radio broadcasts of the Benny Goodman band, including the hits, "Ballad in Blue", "Get Happy", "Jingle Bells", "Diga Diga Doo", "Restless" and "The Glory of Love". His most known assignment was to orchestrate the Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer song "Shorty George" as a song-and-tap number for Astaire and Hayworth in the musical You Were Never Lovelier (1942). Cause of death: Complications after recent surgery.
Big Band Composer and Arranger. He was born Miko Stephanovic in Berlin and died in Hollywood. He was a jazz and swing musician, who played several instruments and wrote over a hundred instrumental compositions. An important figure of the big-band era, he also created a signature theme for the Three Stooges, and his work in films included scoring Walt Disney shorts and devising a dance arrangement for Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. He is also remembered for a system for composing that is still widely used by professional musicians. He arrived to the United States at the age of four and grew up in Salt Lake City, becoming Lyle Murphy, nicknamed "Spud". In 1935-36 he scored over a hundred numbers for the Let's Dance radio broadcasts of the Benny Goodman band, including the hits, "Ballad in Blue", "Get Happy", "Jingle Bells", "Diga Diga Doo", "Restless" and "The Glory of Love". His most known assignment was to orchestrate the Jerome Kern/Johnny Mercer song "Shorty George" as a song-and-tap number for Astaire and Hayworth in the musical You Were Never Lovelier (1942). Cause of death: Complications after recent surgery.
Bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni
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