He was a conductor, composer and arranger born in Antioch, California.
He was active in the sphere of pops music and made many orchestrations of pops and light classical music that have been made available through the Carmen Dragon Music Library. His best known arrangement is possibly that for “America the Beautiful” which is played regularly by The President’s Own United States Marine Band.
As a conductor he appeared with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra and was with them when they appeared on the elementary schools’ Standard Oil Hour which was broadcast on NBC in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
A composer of film scores his music appears in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye and Cover Girl among others. He was awarded with an Academy Award and Emmy for Cover Girl and a school has been named in his honour in Antioch, California.
His children have also entered the music industry with his son Daryl being half of the group The Captain and Tennille, another son, Dennis, is a founding member of The Surf Punks and his daughter Carmen was a member of the 1960s group The Leftovers.
Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra Recordings
Adeste Fidelis (John Francis Wade)
Angel 7243 5 66087 2 6 (CD: The Music of Christmas)
Conductor and Arranger – Carmen Dragon
Warsaw Concerto ( Richard Addinsell)
EMI 63661 (CD: Concertos Under the Stars)
Conductor – Carmen Dragon
Piano – Leonard Pennario
Here is “Country Gardens” by Percy Grainger, arranged and conducted by Carmen Dragon…
Sources:
- http://www.carmendragon.com/index.php?page=about
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Dragon
- http://imdb.com/name/nm0236740/
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1114048-Carmen-Dragon