Nelson Riddle was an American composer, arranger and bandleader whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many great vocalists including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat :“King” Cole, Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney. Riddle scored and arranged music for films and television, earning an Academy Award and three Grammys. Late in his career he found commercial and critical success with a new generation in the 1980s with a trio of platinum albums with Linda Ronstadt. Riddle was born in New Jersey June 1, 1921.

In his youth Riddle played piano and trombone and by his teen years had decided upon a career as a professional musician. He said “... I wanted to be a jazz trombone player, but I didn't have the coordination.” It was at that time that he began to turn to composing and arranging. Soon Riddle was achieving success in that realm arranging Little Brown Jug for the Glenn Miller Orchestra and both Chloe and At Sundown for Tommy Dorsey’s band.

In 1950, Riddle was hired by composer Les Baxter to write arrangements for a recording session with Nat “King” Cole. Although one of the songs Riddle had arranged, Mona Lisa, soon became the biggest selling single of Cole's career, the work was credited to Baxter. Once Cole learned the identity of the arrangement's creator, though, he sought out Riddle's work for other sessions beginning a fruitful partnership that furthered the careers of both men. By 1953 the up-and-coming Nelson Riddle was tapped to write arrangements for Frank Sinatra. The first product of the Riddle/Sinatra partnership, I’ve Got the World on a String, became a runaway hit and is often credited with relaunching the singer's slumping career.

For the next decade, Riddle continued to arrange for Sinatra and Cole, in addition to such Capitol Records artists as Kate Smith, Judy Garland, Dean Martin and Keely Smith. He also found time to record his own instrumental discs which were released on Capitol in both 45 rpm single and LP album formats.

In the spring of 1982, Riddle was approached by Linda Ronstadt to write arrangements for an album of jazz standards that the singer had been contemplating. The agreement between the two resulted in a three-album contract which included what were to be some of the last arrangements of Riddle's career. Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life. Nelson Riddle passed away on October 6, 1985 at the age of 64.

Here is a link to a Sinatra and Riddle hit:

"I'VE GOT THE WORLD ON A STRING"