Pianist, band leader, and composer Freddie Rich was born in Warsaw, Poland, and went on to make a name for himself in the recording studios and on the radio. He served as musical director for the CBS network from 1928 to 1938, leading several successful dance bands along the way.
His first band, resident at the Astor Hotel in New York, recorded prolifically between 1922 and 1928, attracting top-notch musicians who would later rise to greater fame, including Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Ray Bauduc, Joe Venuti, Adrian Rollini, and Bunny Berigan.
Rich was known for his "hot jazz" recordings, which featured the likes of Roy Eldridge, Babe Russin, and Red Nichols, and his organization remained active on the scene until the early 1940s. In 1928, Rich's orchestra had the distinction of being the first of its kind to appear in a Royal Command Performance, before King George V.
In 1943, Rich joined ASCAP and moved to the West Coast, settling down in Beverly Hills. He concentrated on working in Hollywood as a musical director and composer of incidental music and film scores, sometimes billing himself as "Frederic Efrem Rich." His compositions include three symphonies and popular songs such as "Penthouse," "Donn-Ama," "Blue Tahitian Moonlight," "On the Riviera," and "Time Will Tell."
Rich suffered a serious setback in 1945, when a fall left him partially paralyzed. Although this curtailed his work in Hollywood, he remained active as a conductor of studio orchestras until the early 1950s. Rich passed away at his home in Beverly Hills in September 1956, at the age of 58.
