R.I.P.: Billy VerPlanck

Billy VerPlanck
(born April 30, 1930, Norwalk/CT;
died June 2, 2009, Hackensack/NJ)

The arranger & trombonist Billy VerPlanck died June 2nd in Hackensack, New Jersey, at the age of 79. He played trombone with Jess Stacy's band at the age of 15, later worked as a musician and arranger with Charlie Spivak, Claude Thornhill, Jimmy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet and Tommy Dorsey. He became one of the busiest studio arrangers and conductors in New York writing music for jingles, films, documentaries and record dates, especially the albums of his wife, the singer Marlene VerPlanck.