Percy Faith (Toronto, April 7, 1908 – Encino, Cal., February 9, 1976), was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards.
He is often credited with popularizing the “easy listening” or “mood music” format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s. He made many recordings for Voice of America.
After working briefly for Decca Records, he worked for Mitch Miller at Columbia Records, where he turned out dozens of albums and provided arrangements for many of the pop singers of the 1950s, including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis for Mathis’s 1958 Christmas album titled Merry Christmas, and Guy Mitchell for whom Faith co-wrote with Carl Sigman Mitchell’s number-one single, “My Heart Cries for You”. With the advent of harder rock sounds in the 1970s, Faith’s elegant arrangements fell out of favor with the listening and record-buying public, although he continued to release albums as diverse and contemporary as Jesus Christ Superstar and Black Magic Woman.
He released one album of country music and two albums of disco-oriented arrangements toward the end of his forty-year career, his very last recording being a disco-style reworking of “Theme from a Summer Place”, titled “Summer Place ’76”, which was a minor and posthumous hit.
Recordings by Percy Faith you can hear at Instrumentals Forever:
| Amazing Grace |
| Annie’s Song |
| Aquarius |
| As Long As He Needs Me |
| Bach’s Lunch |
| Beautiful Obsession |
| Because |
| Behind Closed Doors |
| Blowin’ In The Wind |
| Candy Man |
| Can’t Get Used To Losing You |
| Cherry Cherry |
| Come Saturday Morning |
| Corazón |
| Day By Day |
| Do I Hear A Waltz |
| Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight |
| Dream Your Dream |
| Eleanor Rigby |
| Elvira’s Theme |
| Everything’s Alright |
| Feelings |
| Fifth Movement (Tubular Bells) |
| Fool On The Hill |
| For Love Of Ivy |
| For Once In My Life |
| For The Good Times |
| Funny Girl |
| Gethsemane |
| Grunchy Granola Suite |
| He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother |
| Heaven On Their Minds |
| Help Me Make It Through The Night |
| Here There And Everywhere |
| Hosanna |
| How Are Things In Glocca Morra |
| How Can I Be Sure |
| I Don’t Know How To Love Him |
| I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore |
| I Love How You Love Me |
| I Need You |
| I’m Gonna Go Fishing |
| La Balanga |
| Lady Sings The Blues |
| Leaving On A Jet Plane |
| Let It Be |
| Little Green Apples |
| Love Theme from ”Romeo And Juliet” |
| Love Theme from ”The Godfather” |
| Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds |
| Make It Easy On Yourself |
| Michelle |
| Moon River |
| Mrs Robinson |
| My Heart Cries For You |
| My Special Angel |
| Orange Blossom Special |
| Our Love |
| Pata Pata |
| Pilate’s Dream |
| Promises Promises |
| Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head |
| Rose Garden |
| Sha Bumpin’ |
| Simon Zealotes |
| Since I Fell For You |
| Snowbird |
| Soleado |
| Someone Who Cares |
| Something |
| Song Sung Blue |
| Star! |
| Stormy |
| Stranger On the Shore |
| Summer Place ’76 (Theme from ”A Summer Place”) |
| Sundown |
| Superstar |
| That Ballad Of John And Yoko |
| The First Time Ever (I Saw Your Face) |
| The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter |
| The Lion In Winter |
| The Most Beautiful Girl |
| The Temple |
| The Way We Were |
| The Windmills Of Your Mind |
| Theme from ”A Summer Place” |
| Theme from ”The Fox” |
| Those Were The Days |
| Vado Via |
| You Are The Sunshine Of My Life |
| Zorba’s Dance |