He was the first to hire the Beatles to record and wrote successful hits for Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra as well as having a few minor hits of his own. Who was he?

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Bert Kaempfert (October 16, 1923 - June 21, 1980) He was born in Hamburg in Germany and studied at the School of Music there. A multi-instrumentalist, he was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra before serving as a bandsman in the German navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band and toured with them and then worked as an arranger and producer, making hit records with Freddy Quinn and Ivo Robic. In 1961, he hired The Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Ain't She Sweet" and "Cry for a Shadow," in a session for Polydor. These turned out to be the Beatles' first commercial recordings. Kaempfert's own first hit with his orchestra had been in 1960 with "Wonderland by Night". Later commercial successes included "Tenderly", "A Swingin' Safari" and "Three O'Clock in the Morning". Kaempfert penned a number of well known tunes which were hits for other artists. "Strangers in the Night" (with words by Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder), originally recorded for the 1965 film A Man Could Get Killed, was a hit in 1966 for Frank Sinatra; "Wooden Heart", sung by Elvis Presley in the film GI Blues was a hit in 1961; and his instrumental "Moon Over Naples", when given words by Snyder, became "Spanish Eyes" (originally a hit for Al Martino and also recorded by Presley and many others). http://www.sciencedaily.com/encyclopedia/bert_kaempfert Nov 07 04, 11:27 PM