Don Costa
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Don Costa (July 10 1925 – January 19 1983) was an American pop music arranger and record producer best known for his work with Frank Sinatra.
Biography
Costa was born Dominick P. Costa in Boston, Massachusetts to an Italian American family. As a child, he took a keen interest in learning the guitar, and he became a member of the CBS Radio Orchestra by the time he was in his teens. In the late 1940s, Costa moved to New York to further his career by becoming a session musician. He played guitar along with Bucky Pizzarelli on Vaughn Monroe's hit recording "Ghost Riders in the Sky." It was around this time that Costa started experimenting with combinations of instruments, producing musical arrangements, and peddling them to a few notable big bands.
It was this self-promotion that caused two young up and coming singers to notice his work. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme invited Costa to write some vocal backgrounds for their future recordings. He agreed, and thus began a winning association that led to their joining a new record label being headed by Sam Clark as president: ABC-Paramount records. It was here that Costa accepted the position of head A&R man as well as chief arranger and producer. Many hits were to follow, not only with Lawrence and Gorme, but with Lloyd Price, George Hamilton IV, and Paul Anka, as well.
Costa found several of his own instrumental recordings becoming hits, including the theme tunes from Never on Sunday and The Unforgiven. He was voted number one in Cash Box as the most popular recording arranger and conductor. It was at this time that Lawrence, Gorme, and Costa left ABC to join the United Artists label. Costa continued to produce and arrange for others as well as release his own instrumental albums.
During this time Frank Sinatra had formed a new recording label, Reprise, and he hired Costa to arrange one of his albums, Sinatra and Strings, released in 1962. This set of standard ballads would remain one of the most critically-acclaimed works of Sinatra's entire Reprise period. Costa's largely string-based orchestrations were outstanding, but he was rarely called upon to write in a similar style again during the long association with Sinatra which followed, as the singer concentrated on more contemporary projects with him. Among the standout tracks on Sinatra and Strings are "All or Nothing at All", an unusual verse-only version of "Stardust" (in absolute juxtaposition to the many chorus-only versions of the song), a ballad rendition of "Night and Day" which provides a lovely contrast to Sinatra's more familiar big band version, and a rendition of "Come Rain or Come Shine" which frequently is included "Best of" compilations from Sinatra's Reprise years. With its atmospheric, muted trumpet intro and its dynamic, bluesy string interlude, it's an extraordinary "tour de force" for Costa.
The following year, in a further sign of his growing stature, Costa was asked to arrange the charts for the Sarah Vaughan album, Snowbound.
In the mid 1960s, Costa moved from New York to Hollywood, California, formed his own company, DCP International, and scored big with the label's major talent, Little Anthony and the Imperials. In 1963, Costa discovered Tex-Mex rocker Trini Lopez working at "PJ's", a Hollywood nightclub. Later in the decade, Sinatra called upon Costa once again to become his primary arranger, and Costa's work with Lawrence and Gorme abated. During this period Sinatra scored one his biggest hits, the Paul Anka composed tune "My Way".
Costa was conducting for Sinatra in Las Vegas as well as arranging his records when he suffered a heart attack and required bypass surgery. After recovering, he started working with Mike Curb at MGM Records, producing and arranging material for the Osmond Brothers hits, as well as having a hand in Sammy Davis, Jr.'s "Candy Man" and Petula Clark's cover of "My Guy."
In the early 1980s, Costa scored again as an artist with a hit with his 10-year-old daughter Nikka entitled "Out Here On My Own." The two were planning a follow-up when Costa suddenly died of a heart attack in New York City.
Costa's ability to write string lines earned him the soubriquet the "Puccini of Pop."
Albums
- Music To Break A Sub-Lease (1958)
- The Theme From "The Unforgiven" (1960)
- Hollywood Premiere! (1962)
- Days Of Wine And Roses (1966)
- Modern Delights (1967)
- The Don Costa Concept (1969)
