ABSTRACT

Born in Corona, Queens, New York, Bleyer became a prominent composer/arranger and record label owner, starting Cadence Records in the 1950s, the home of the Everly Brothers and Andy Williams. Bleyer studied piano as a child and showed strong musical talents, but was originally interested in becoming an electrical engineer. He attended Columbia studying engineering from 1927 to 1929, but dropped out to form his own dance band playing local jobs. By the mid-1930s, the band had a recording contract with Brunswick, and featured a young lead vocalist who would eventually have a career as a major songwriter, Johnny Mercer. In 1938, Bleyer went to Hollywood, where he was hired as staff arranger/bandleader for the popular Arthur Godfrey radio show. He remained with Godfrey through the early 1950s, and in 1952 formed Cadence Records as an outlet for performers who gained popularity on Godfrey’s many shows, including Julius LaRosa and the vocal group the Chordettes. LaRosa had several hits immediately, including the number four “Anywhere I Wander” (Cadence 1230), in 1953, and Bleyer’s own band scored big with the camp classic, “Hernando’s Hideaway” (#2, 1954; Cadence 1241), which was featured in the film The Pajama Game. The Chordettes scored a number one on the Bleyer-produced candy-coated vocal hit, “Mr. Sandman” (Cadence 1247; Bleyer provides the tonguein-cheek response “Yes” to the girl’s pleading “Mr. Sandman?” on the record), and, in 1958, with the equally sweet “Lollipop” (#2; Cadence 1345). In 1956, Cadence scored big with crooner Andy Williams’s “Canadian Sunset” (#7; Cadence 1297), and “Butterfly” (#1; Cadence 1338), and in 1958 with “Are You Sincere” (#3; Cadence 1340).