Background
Simeone was born in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up listening to stars performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, not far from his native Newark.
Simeone was born in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up listening to stars performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, not far from his native Newark.
To this end, he enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music, which he attended for three years, but when he was offered work at Columbia Broadcasting System as an arranger for bandleader Fred Waring, he dropped out of Juilliard to accept lieutenant
Initiated and inspired by this childhood passion, he sought a career as a concert pianist. Once there, he had various music production jobs for several Paramount films between 1939 and 1946, including some that starred Bing Crosby. Sometime in 1948, Simeone joined National Broadcasting Company"s The Swift Show as the program"s orchestra leader, and during 1952, he joined National Broadcasting Company"s The Firestone Hour as conductor and choral arranger.
When the Twentieth-Century Fox Records label contracted Simeone to make a Christmas album in 1958, he assembled a group he called "The Harry Simeone Chorale" and searched for recording material.
He received joint authorship-and-composition cr for the album, although he did not actually write or compose the song. The single quickly became extremely popular and scored on the United States. music charts from 1958 to 1962.
The Simeone Chorale had another Christmas success during 1962, with their rendition of the then-new song Do You Hear What I Hear? for Mercury Records. In 1960, Simeone joined a revived half-hour version of The Kate Smith Show on Columbia Broadcasting System television, produced by Smith"s long-time manager, Ted Collins.
Though the program had good reviews, audience levels lagged at an early evening time, and the show was cancelled after some six months on the air.
In the same year, 1960, Simeone organized another group, which he called "The Harry Simeone Songsters", whose style he made similar to that of the Ray Conniff Singers. Under his direction, that group produced a baseball-oriented song called lieutenant"s a Beautiful Day for a Ball Game. The song is on one of the Baseball"s Greatest Hits CDs and is still played at major league baseball parks.
In 1964, Simeone signed with Kapp Records.
The following year he recorded a new version of for his album O" Bambino — The Little Drummer Boy. Margaret died the following year, after which Harry"s health declined.
On Tuesday, February 22, 2005, Harry died at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, almost three months before he would have reached the age of 94. Simeone"s granddaughter Laura Stevenson also became a musician, becoming the frontwoman of Laura Stevenson and the Cans.