Shep Fields
b. 12 September 1910, Brooklyn, New York, USA. This saxophone and clarinet player was the leader of the '30s sweet band, Shep Fields And His Rippling Rhythm. Fields led his first band while at university, then turned professional, gaining important engagements in Miami and New York during 1934. He toured with the Voloz and Yolanda dance team before playing an engagement at Chicago's Palmer House. During this period, he also received good radio coverage. The rippling rhythm gimmick was allegedly produced when Fields discovered the sound that could be made by blowing through a straw into a glass of water. Signed to RCA's Bluebird label he had a major hit with Did I Remember in 1936 and many others during the late '30s including There's Something In The Air, This Year's Kisses, Moonlight And Shadows, The Merry Go Round Broke Down, That Old Feeling, Thanks For The Memory, Whistle While You Work, Cathedral In The Pines and South Of The Border. During the early '40s Fields attempted to update his style and recorded as Shep Fields And His New Music, a band formed completely of reed instruments. Although the resulting sound was unique, his popularity waned and by 1947 he had reverted to his former rippling rhythm style, but without further success. He became a disc jockey in Houston, Texas in 1955, occasionally fronting a band. Then in 1963 he linked with his brother Freddie to form a Hollywood talent agency. By the '70s he was still involved in personnel management.