- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLeslie Thompson Baxter
- Born March 14, 1922, at Mexia, Texas. He learned to play the piano at five years of age and studied at the Detroit Conservatory and at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles, California (his uncle was the college's first president). He began his career as a concert pianist but later joined Mel Tormé's "Meltones" in 1945. Baxter conducted a number of radio shows including "The Bob Hope Show". His recording of "The Poor People of Paris" in March 1956 was a #1 hit and sold more single copies than any other recording during that decade (the song got that title by mistake. Originally titled "The Ballad of Poor John" when it was popularized in France, a Capitol Records representative cabled the title to the US; the cable used the word "gens", meaning "people", instead of "jean"). Another major hit was "April in Portugal", which was based on a song by Raúl Ferrão. It was originally entitled "Coimbra" (after a city in Portugal) and later introduced in the US as the whispering serenade. But Jimmy Kennedy wrote a new set of lyrics in 1952 for it and it became a huge hit for Baxter\, who also wrote the scores for over 120 motion pictures.
He died of heart and kidney problems on January 15, 1996.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Mike McKinley <alovelyway@aol.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous) - Les was educated at the Detroit Conservatory and Pepperdine College. He was a singer with Mel Torme's Mel-Tones in 1945. He conducted the orchestras and chorus for radio's "Halls of Ivy", "Abbott & Costello Show" and "Bob Hope Show". He arranged and orchestrated for Nat King Cole, Margaret Whiting, and Frank DeVol. Also, he produced for Capitol Records and led his own orchestra. Joining ASCAP in 1954, his song and instrumental compositions include "Shooting Star", "Le Sacre du Sauvage", "Coffee Bean", "A Day in Rome", "Sunshine at Kowloon", "Ceremony", "Brandy", "Congale", "Fiesta Brava", and "Asheville Junction".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous
- SpousePatricia Fitzmaurice(January 10, 1952 - February 13, 1963) (her death, 1 child)
- Composed whistling theme for the TV series Lassie (1954).
- He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6314 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- Baxter and Ronald Stein were staff composers at American International Pictures for several years, but the two never met, according to Baxter in a 1981 interview. Eight AIP film scores were co-credited to Baxter and Stein.
- Interviewed in "It Came from Horrorwood: Interviews with Moviemakers in the SF and Horror Tradition" by Tom Weaver (McFarland, 1996).
- Baxter and Hall Daniels were co-directors of music publishing company Bax Music based in Torrance, CA.
- Regarding his first album ("Music Out of the Moon"), which featured one cello, one French horn, a choir, rhythm section, and a theremin: "No one had ever heard of a combination like that. It was a little weird. I didn't know what popular records were. I didn't know what I was doing."
- Macabre (1958) - $10,000
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