Ken Darby

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Ken Darby (May 13, 1909 - January 24, 1992) was an American Academy Award and Grammy Award winning composer, vocal arranger, and conductor. He has shared in winning an Oscar three times and was nominated for three others:

Awarded "Scoring of a Musical Picture" The King and I (1956) (with Alfred Newman)
Nominated "Scoring of a Musical Picture" South Pacific (1958) (with Alfred Newman)
Awarded "Scoring of a Musical Picture" Porgy and Bess (1959) (with Andre Previn)
Nominated "Scoring of a Musical Picture" Flower Drum Song (1961) (with Alfred Newman)
Nominated "Original Music Score" How the West Was Won (1963) (with Alfred Newman)
Awarded "Scoring of Music-adaptation or treatment" Camelot (1967) (with Alfred Newman)
Awarded Grammy, "Best Soundtrack Album, Original Cast, Movie or Television" Porgy and Bess (1959) (with Andre Previn)

His choral group, the Ken Darby Singers, sang backup for Bing Crosby on the original 1942 Decca Records studio recording of "White Christmas." They also sang on the first album ever made of the songs from The Wizard of Oz, in 1940, a film on which Darby had worked. However, the album was a studio cast recording, not a true soundtrack album, although it did feature Judy Garland, and it did not use the film's original arrangements.

He was a composer and production supervisor for Walt Disney Studios, and was choral and vocal director on the 1946 Disney film classic, “Song of the South”.

He was Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach for "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953) and "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954).

He also composed the Elvis Presley hit "Love Me Tender" for the movie of the same name, but signed the rights over to his wife, Vera Matson, whose name appears as co-lyricist with Elvis Presley for royalty purposes.