Who Am I? Week #770

IRBS, when the subject of "Who Am I" was Santa Catalina Island, I had to give a fifth clue. Because tomorrow is New Year's Day and this is turning out to be more difficult than I expected, let's wrap this up (figuratively, not literally). Here is the final clue.

CLUE #4: Our songs were a staple of "beautiful music" radio stations in the 1960s-70s.

Beautiful music - Wikipedia
 
This was a stumper – and NO WINNER has added to his win total. The subject of this week's "Who Am I" is 101 Strings.

In November 1957, David Miller, owner of the Essex and Somerset record labels, began releasing albums of popular songs – mostly standards, pop hits and show tunes – performed by various orchestras under the direction of Wilhelm Stephan and credited to "The 101 Strings." The orchestras featured as many as 124 string instruments and often also woodwinds, brass and percussion.

Two hundred eighty-six 101 Strings studio albums were released. Of the five that charted in the United States, the biggest was The Soul Of Spain, which reached #9 on Billboard's Best Selling Stereophonic LPs chart in January 1960. (From May 1959 to August 1963, there were separate charts for mono albums and stereo albums.) Down Drury Lane To Memory Lane spent five weeks as the number-one album in the UK in September-October 1960. A Tribute To John Lennon, the final 101 Strings album (excluding compilations), came out in January 1981 and consisted of ten Beatles songs that had appeared on previous 101 Strings albums.

From the 1968 album 101 Strings Play Hits Written By The Beatles, here is I Want To Hold Your Hand:

 
I was stumped. The closest I got was The Wrecking Crew, a group of session musicians who played on hundreds of albums. I don't remember coming across 101 Strings. But it was a fun game 98!
 
Henry Mancini was a good guess. His first album, Driftwood & Dreams, came out in 1957, the same year as the first 101 Strings allbum. Driftwood & Dreams featured Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and soprano Loulie Jean Norman (who had been a member of Bing Crosby's background singers The Rhythmaires).

Mancini wrote the scores for 176 movies including The Pink Panther, The Great Race, Mommie Dearest, Victor/Victoria, Breakfast At Tiffany's and Slaughter On 10th Avenue. He released 95 studio albums including movie soundtracks. Thirty-seven made Billboard's album chart.

To close out 2025, here is What Are You Doing New Year's Eve/Auld Lang Syne by the Henry Mancini Orchestra & Chorus:

 
Listener guessed the Mantovani Orchestra. That, too, was a good guess. Annunzio Paulo Mantovani reached #2 in December 1935 with a version of Red Sails In The Sunset from the Broadway play Provincetown Follies. The artist was shown as "Mantovani and His Tipica Orchestra with vocal chorus." The "vocal chorus" was George Barclay. Mantovani had several hit singles before releasing his first album, Waltzing With Mantovani, in June 1951. Forty-two of his studio albums (but not his first one) and one live album made Billboard's album chart between 1952 and 1973.
 
Channel98 said:
This was a stumper – and NO WINNER has added to his win total. The subject of this week's "Who Am I" is 101 Strings.

In November 1957, David Miller, owner of the Essex and Somerset record labels, began releasing albums of popular songs – mostly standards, pop hits and show tunes – performed by various orchestras under the direction of Wilhelm Stephan and credited to "The 101 Strings." The orchestras featured as many as 124 string instruments and often also woodwinds, brass and percussion.

Two hundred eighty-six 101 Strings studio albums were released. Of the five that charted in the United States, the biggest was The Soul Of Spain, which reached #9 on Billboard's Best Selling Stereophonic LPs chart in January 1960. (From May 1959 to August 1963, there were separate charts for mono albums and stereo albums.) Down Drury Lane To Memory Lane spent five weeks as the number-one album in the UK in September-October 1960. A Tribute To John Lennon, the final 101 Strings album (excluding compilations), came out in January 1981 and consisted of ten Beatles songs that had appeared on previous 101 Strings albums.

From the 1968 album 101 Strings Play Hits Written By The Beatles, here is I Want To Hold Your Hand:

Click to expand...


Well done filling in for the literal King.

Not to be a jerk but your fill in weeks have tended to be a bit easier than King's. That was not the case this time and your game was totally fair, your hints were properly leading us to the answer.
 
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