b. 15 June 1910, London, England, d. 23 August 1990, Burbank, California, USA. A distinguished orchestra leader, composer, and arranger in the 40s and 50s, Rose was taken to the USA when he was just four-years-old. After graduating from the Chicago College of Music at the age of 16, he joined Ted Fio Rito's dance band, and three years later became a pianist/arranger/conductor for NBC Radio. In 1936 he provided the arrangement for Benny Goodman's big hit "It's Been So Long", before moving to Hollywood, where he formed his own orchestra in 1938 for the Mutual Broadcasting System, and featured on the programme California Melodies. In the same year Rose married comedienne/singer Martha Raye and backed her on her hit record "Melancholy Mood". The marriage was later dissolved, and, after meeting Judy Garland when she was appearing on Bob Hope's radio show, he became the first of her five husbands from 1941-45. During military service in World War II Rose was composer/conductor for the Army/Air Force morale-boosting stage musical Winged Victory, which was filmed in 1944. In 1943 he had a big hit with his own composition "Holiday For Strings" and, a year later, with "Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)". By the late 40s he was a regular on Red Skelton's radio show, moving with him into television. He later wrote scores and themes for over 20 television series and won Emmy awards for his 14-year stint on Bonanza, 10 years with Little House On The Prairie and his work on three much-acclaimed Fred Astaire specials, beginning with An Evening With Fred Astaire in 1959.

Listen to David Rose at Finetune.

• The Stripper
• Like Young (1996 Digital Remaster)
• Wear Your Love Like Heaven/Workin' On A Groovy Thing

• Sounds Orchestral
• We Five
• Gene Pitney
• Dickey Lee
• Petula Clark
• Bruce Channel
• Joe Dowell
• The Singing Nun
• Chris Montez
• Gilbert O'Sullivan
• Christopher Cross
• Chad & Jeremy
• Jorgen Ingmann
• Kyu Sakamoto
• The T-Bones
• The Springfields
• Georgie Fame
• Harpers Bizarre
• Sue Thompson
• The Toys