Mel Henke

Born 4 August 1915, Chicago, Illinois, Died 31 March 1979, Canoga Park, California. One of the masterminds behind that mix of music and sound effects in 1960s commercials that's since embedded itself deep in our subconscious. Henke got his start as a pianist, working in small combos in clubs. He worked in radio and television after World War II. In 1955, he joined the television department at Disney, where he composed most of their commercials and for a few television series. Unlike many musicians who dismissed commercial work as hack work, Henke took to the format immediately, and he was soon experimenting, adding sound effects and snatches of dialogue along with musical passages. He released a few albums in the early 1960s that applied this approach to current hits, standards, and original compositions. The most famous of these is La Dolce Henke, which mixes jazzy compositions with sound effects (mostly simulated by musical instruments) and voice-overs to create miniature sonic dramas. Source & more info: http://www.spaceagepop.com/henke.htm Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.