Jenkins was born in Webster Groves, Missouri. He started his career doing arrangements for a St Louis radio station. He was then hired by Isham Jones, the director of a dance band known for its ensemble playing, and this gave Jenkins the opportunity to develop his skills in melodic scoring. He also conducted The Show Is On on Broadway.
After the Jones band broke up in 1936, Jenkins worked as a freelance arranger and songwriter, contributing to sessions by Isham Jones, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Andre Kostelanetz, Lennie Hayton, and others. In 1938, Jenkins moved to Hollywood and worked for Paramount Pictures and NBC, and then became Dick Haymes' arranger for four years. In 1944, Jenkins had a hit song with "San Fernando Valley".
In 1945, Jenkins joined Decca Records. In 1947, he had his first million-seller with "Maybe You'll Be There" featuring vocalist Charles LaVere and in 1949 had a huge hit with Victor Young's film theme "My Foolish Heart", which was also a success for Billy Eckstine. At the same time, he regularly arranged for and conducted the orchestra for various Decca artists, including Dick Haymes ("Little White Lies", 1947), Ella Fitzgerald ("Happy Talk", 1949, "Black Coffee", 1949, "Baby", 1954), Patty Andrews of the Andrews Sisters ("I Can Dream, Can't I", 1949) and Louis Armstrong ("Blueberry Hill", 1949 and "When It's Sleepy Time Down South", 1951).
The liner notes to Verve Records' 2001 reissue of one of Jenkins' albums with Armstrong, Satchmo In Style, quote Decca's onetime A & R Director, Milt Gabler, saying that Jenkins "stood up on his little podium so that all the performers could see him conduct. But before he gave a downbeat, Gordon made a speech about how much he loved Louis and how this was the greatest moment in his life. And then he cried."
During this time, Jenkins also began recording and performing under his own name. One of his enduring works while at Decca was a pair of Broadway-style musical vignettes, "Manhattan Tower" and "California" which saw release several times (78s, 45s, and LP) in the '40s and '50s. The two were paired on a very early Decca LP in 1949), and Jenkins was given the Key to New York City by its mayor when Jenkins's orchestra performed the 16-minute suite on the Ed Sullivan show in the early '50s. In 1956, he expanded "Manhattan Tower" to almost three times its length, released it (this time on Capitol Records), and performed it on an hour-long television show. (Both versions of "Manhattan Tower" are currently available on CD.) Another of his long play album productions, "Seven Dreams" included a sequence which was the source for Johnny Cash's immensely popular recording, "Folsom Prison Blues".
He headlined New York's Capitol Theater between 1949 and 1951 and the Paramount Theater in 1952. He appeared in Las Vegas in 1953 and many times thereafter. He worked for NBC as a TV producer from 1955 to 1957, and performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964. By 1949, Jenkins was musical director at Decca, and he signed -- despite resistance from Decca's management -- the Weavers, a Greenwich Village folk ensemble that included Pete Seeger among its members. The combination of the Weavers' folk music with Jenkins' orchestral arrangements became immensely popular, to the surprise of everyone involved. Their most notable collaboration was a version of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" (1950) backed by Jenkins' adaptation of the Israeli folk song, "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena". Other notable songs they recorded together are "The Roving Kind", "On Top of Old Smokey" (1951), and "Wimoweh" (1952).
Jenkins later moved to Capitol Records where he worked with Frank Sinatra, notably on the albums Where Are You? (1957) and No One Cares (1959), and Nat King Cole, with whom he had his greatest successes; Jenkins was responsible for the lush arrangements on the 1957 album Love Is The Thing (Capitol's first stereo release, which included "When I Fall in Love", one of Cole's best-known recordings), as well as the albums The Very Thought of You (1958) and Where Did Everyone Go? (1963). Jenkins also wrote the music and lyrics for Judy Garland's 1959 album The Letter which also featured vocalist Charles LaVere, and conducted several of Garland's London concerts in the early 1960s.
Whilst most of Jenkins' arrangements at Capitol were in his distinctive string-laden style, he continued to demonstrate more versatility when required, particularly on albums such as A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra (1957), which opens with a swinging version of Jingle Bells, and Nat King Cole's album of spirituals, Every Time I Feel The Spirit (1958), which includes several tracks with a pronounced \textstyle\frac{2}{4} beat that might almost be described as rock.
However, as rock and roll gained ascendency in the 1960s, Jenkins' lush string arrangements fell out of favour and he worked only sporadically, though Sinatra, who had left Capitol to start his own label, Reprise Records, continued to call upon the arranger's services at various intervals over the next two decades, on albums such as All Alone (1962), the critically-acclaimed September of My Years (1965), for which Jenkins won a Grammy, Sinatra's 1973 comeback album, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back and She Shot Me Down (1981) - regarded by many Sinatraphiles as the singer's last great work. Jenkins also worked with Harry Nilsson on A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973), a collection of pre-rock and roll standards. The Nilsson sessions, with Jenkins conducting, were recorded on video and later broadcast as a television special by the BBC.
Although best known as an arranger, Jenkins also wrote well-known several songs including "P.S. I Love You", "Goodbye" (Benny Goodman's sign-off tune), "Blue Prelude", "This Is All I Ask", "When a Woman Loves a Man" and "Future", composed music for Sinatra's 1979 concept album Trilogy.
Jenkins died in Malibu, California in 1984 at age 73 of Lou Gehrig's disease.
In November of 2005, Gordon's son Bruce (a sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle) published a biography titled "Goodbye". Other living relatives include nieces Phoebe Barnum and Leslie Mason.
Stella By Starlight
Gordon Jenkins Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Through years of endless springs
The murmur of a brook at eventide
That ripples by a nook where two lovers hide
A great symphonic theme
That's Stella by starlight
And not a dream
My heart and I agree
A great symphonic theme
That's Stella by starlight
And not a dream
My heart and I agree
She's everything on earth to me
The lyrics to Gordon Jenkins's song Stella by Starlight depict the beauty and wonder of falling in love with someone. The first two lines describe the feeling of being in love as a joyful experience, symbolized by the robin's song during springtime. The third and fourth lines describe a peaceful moment shared by two lovers by the brook, further highlighting the beauty of pure love.
The middle section of the song highlights the phrase "Stella by Starlight," which is used to represent the overwhelming feeling of love that the singer is experiencing. This phrase is described as a "great symphonic theme," indicating that this love is a grand and powerful feeling, much like a sweeping orchestral score. This feeling is also described as real and not just a dream. The final lines reaffirm the importance of this love, describing the singer's loved one as "everything on earth" to them.
Overall, the song portrays the beauty of love and the overwhelming feeling it can bring. It uses descriptions of nature and music to further emphasize this idea and paint a picture of the intense emotions the singer is experiencing.
Line by Line Meaning
The song a robin sings
The beautiful melody of a robin that symbolizes the beginning of new life and hope.
Through years of endless springs
Despite the passage of time and the changing of seasons, the song and its meaning remain constant.
The murmur of a brook at eventide
The gentle sound of nature in the evening, representing a sense of calm and tranquility.
That ripples by a nook where two lovers hide
The brook serves as a backdrop for two lovers who find shelter and privacy within their love.
A great symphonic theme
The song represents a grand and majestic musical masterpiece.
That's Stella by starlight
The song is known as 'Stella by Starlight' and pays tribute to a loved one.
And not a dream
The love is real, not just a figment of imagination.
My heart and I agree
The artist's heart and mind are in sync, convinced of the strength and validity of their love.
She's everything on earth to me
The loved one is the most important thing in the artist's life, the source of their joy and happiness.
Lyrics © Editora e Importadora Musical Fermata do Brasil Ltda., Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Ned Washington, Victor Young
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Karen Goonting
Thank you for posting this. Must try to get the record. Will be in CD now but no matter. I so wish I was alive at the time to have seen Dick Haymes sing live. Ah well. I was born in the wrong part of the century and the wrong country. So, am very thankful we still have his recordings. What a gift his talent is to all of us.
60otaku4
You're very welcome, Karen Goonting -san!!
Otaku4 (*^_^)/
Philip George Harfleet
Pure velvet voice. Precise orchestration, strict tempo foxtrot timing. PERFECTION.
Clive Fuller-Hale
Yes, this is the classic performance. I have this very LP and played it last week...still in great condition like this one...must be 65 years old...
eduardo rodriguez
Argentinian singer ,👍🇦🇷👏
Tony Grainger
The best version by far, the only other that comes close is by Sinatra, and Haymes was a much better singer.
Tiggywinkle
I agree with that. I don’t think Dick Haymes was too nice to Rita Hayworth but
yes he could sing.