Mancini was born Enrico Nicola Mancini in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the steel town of West Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. His parents emigrated from the Abruzzo region of Italy. Mancini's father, Quinto, was a steelworker, who made his only child begin flute lessons at the age of eight. When Mancini was 12 years old, he began piano lessons. Quinto and Henry played flute together in the Aliquippa Italian immigrant band, "Sons of Italy". After high school, Mancini attended the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1943, after roughly one year at Juilliard, his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army. In 1945, he participated in the liberation of a South German concentration camp.
Mancini recorded over 90 albums, in styles ranging from big band to classical to pop. Eight of these albums were certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America. He had a 20 year contract with RCA Records, resulting in 60 commercial record albums that made him a household name composer of easy listening music.
Mancini's range also extended to orchestral and ethnic scores (Lifeforce, The Great Mouse Detective, Sunflower, "Tom and Jerry: The Movie", Molly Maguires, The Hawaiians), and darker themes ("Experiment In Terror," "The White Dawn," "Wait Until Dark," "The Night Visitor").
Mancini was also a concert performer, conducting over fifty engagements per year, resulting in over 600 symphony performances during his lifetime. Among the symphony orchestras he conducted are the London Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He appeared in 1966, 1980 and 1984 in command performances for the British Royal Family. He also toured several times with Johnny Mathis and with Andy Williams, who had sung many of Mancini's songs.[citation needed]
Mancini had experience with acting and voice roles. In 1994 he made a one-off cameo appearance in the first season of the sitcom series Frasier, as a call-in patient to Dr. Frasier Crane's radio show. Mancini voiced the character Al, who speaks with a melancholy drawl and hates the sound of his own voice, in the episode "Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast?" Mancini also had an uncredited performance as a pianist in the 1967 movie Gunn, the movie version of the series Peter Gunn, the score of which was originally composed by Mancini himself.
Mancini was nominated for an unprecedented 72 Grammys, winning 20 Additionally he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, winning four. He also won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmys.
Mancini won a total of four Oscars for his music in the course of his career.
Mancini died at the age of 70 in Beverly Hills/Los Angeles, California of pancreatic cancer. He was working at the time on the Broadway stage version of Victor/Victoria. At the time of his death, Mancini was married to singer Virginia "Ginny" O´Connor, with whom he had three children. Ginny Mancini went on to found the Society of Singers a non profit organization which benefits the health and welfare of professional singers worldwide. Additionally the Society awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts and holds the annual Ella Awards.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP) Foundation "Henry Mancini Music Scholarship" has been awarded annually since 2001.
Imagine
Henry Mancini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
You, you may say
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one
The song "Imagine" by Henry Mancini is a timeless classic that encourages people to envision a world without borders, divisions, and material possessions. The first lyrics of the song "Imagine there's no heaven, It's easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky" suggests the idea of a world without religious boundaries. The song implies that if we can imagine a world without religious divisions, then we can live in peace.
The second verse suggests that we can imagine a world without countries, without wars and other forms of violence. The idea of no possessions and no greed suggests that people should help each other and work as one. The song is a call for unity and a world in which people live in harmony.
The chorus "You, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one, I hope some day you'll join us, and the world will be as one" is an invitation for everyone to join in creating a better world. The song inspires listeners to consider the possibilities of creating a world that is more peaceful, unified and centered on our shared humanity.
Overall, the song "Imagine" by Henry Mancini is an optimistic and hopeful call for unity, harmony and peace.
Line by Line Meaning
Imagine there's no heaven
Imagine a world where the concept of heaven doesn't exist
It's easy if you try
It's effortless to imagine if you put your mind to it
No hell below us
No afterlife horrors await us
Above us only sky
The vast expanse of the sky is all that's present above us
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine a world where people only focus on living life in the present moment
Imagine there's no countries
Picture a world with no borders or countries
It isn't hard to do
It's not difficult to imagine such a world
Nothing to kill or die for
No wars or causes worth dying for exist in this world
And no religion too
The idea of religion doesn't exist in this world
Imagine all the people living life in peace
Envision a world where everyone lives in harmony and peace
You, you may say
Some people might tell you
I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one
I might be a dreamer, but there are others who share my vision
I hope some day you'll join us
I hope one day you'll imagine this world too
And the world will be as one
And our collective world will be united as a whole
Imagine no possessions
Imagine a world with no possessions or materialistic wants
I wonder if you can
I am curious if you can imagine this
No need for greed or hunger
Everyone has what they need to survive, and no one wants more at the expense of others
A brotherhood of man
A society where everyone is equal, and we are all united as brothers
Imagine all the people sharing all the world
Envision a world where everyone shares resources and works together for the greater good
And the world will live as one
Our world will live in peace and harmony, without division or conflict
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
CarlosJ.
MORE FOR THIS ALBUM PLEASE! (ALL THE ALBUM HAHA). Great forever Mancini "rocks the pops".
Iceferno Pro
I tried accessing the Spotify playlist, guessing it's unavailable in my country. 👎