Harry Currie

Henry Robertson George "Harry" Currie (born 11 April 1931) is a Canadian conductor, vocalist, instrumentalist, composer, music educator, journalist, and novelist.
Early life
Currie was born on 11 April 1931 in Moncton, New Brunswick, an only child to Ronald MacDonald Currie and Mary Geraldine Juanita (MacMichael) Currie. His childhood was fragmented and relatively poor, because of his father's loss of work in the depression, military service in World War II, and parents divorce in 1946. He lived in Campbellton, Halifax and Moncton, attending Moncton High School, where he developed an early interest in music and the performing arts. High school part-time jobs included painting every fire hydrant in the City of Moncton and as a part-time announcer/operator at CKCW Moncton.
Education
In 1948, Currie enrolled in premed at McGill University, but abandoned his studies after one year and returned to New Brunswick. He enrolled in Mount Allison University in 1949, originally as a theology major, but switched to music for personal reasons in the middle of his first year. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music (Theory and Composition) degree in music from Mount Allison University in 1953. His mentor at Mount Allison was Alfred Whitehead, MusDoc, FRCO. At Mount "A" he was a member of two intercollegiate championship teams - track & field and badminton, became President of both the Choral Society and Conservatory Society, and created the Mountaires 16-piece dance band. Prior to graduation, Currie was commissioned into the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps (Militia) as a 2nd Lieutenant through the Canadian Officers Training Corps. After graduation he began a career as a Regular Force military Director of Music, promoted to Lieutenant, the first direct-entry Director of Music in the Canadian Forces, and at age 22 and one month the youngest ever military Director of Music in the history of the British Commonwealth, a record previously held by Lieutenant Colonel Sir Vivian Dunn, Royal Marines, since 1931. In 1956 he was offered the three-year course at the renowned Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall (England), voluntarily reverting temporarily to Warrant Officer Class 1, for British Army protocol couldn't allow an officer to attend a course with other ranks. Graduating with honours in 1958, in the same year he also earned an LTCL (Licentiate) Degree in Voice from Trinity College of Music in London, and had already earned an ARCM (Associate) Degree in Conducting, Military Bandmastership, from the Royal College of Music, London, in November 1957. In 1980 Currie earned the Honour Music Specialist Diploma With Distinction from the University of Toronto.
Career
Musical career
Currie was accepted into the Regular Force of the Canadian Army and served as assistant and/or acting director of music with the bands of the Canadian Guards, the Royal Canadian Artillery, the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, and the Lord Strathcona's Horse Regiment. During his posting to Halifax he played occasional clarinet with the Halifax Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Meyer.
In 1957, early in his career, he was formally presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and in 1958, he performed at a garden party at Buckingham Palace. While in England at Kneller Hall, he formed a 4-voice male vocal group called The Concords styled after the HiLo's and the Four Freshmen, which performed on BBC radio and the ATV Network for two years. He sat in with the HiLo's as 3rd voice in place of Bob Strasen at the request of Gene Puerling. During that period he combined his military musical commitments with freelance gigs and session work as a vocalist and instrumentalist on the lively broadcasting, club, and studio circuits, earning a reputation that would serve him well a few years later. He rounded out his time in England singing in the Royal Choral Society under Sir Malcolm Sargent, and leading his Harry Currie Quintet on clarinet and vocals playing at USAF officers' and NCO's clubs in southern England.
Posted to Calgary, Alberta, and the LdSH Band, the lack of opportunities for a permanent force 55-piece military band soon became obvious. The musicians' union blocked the army band from taking any work that could be done by a civilian group. Currie busied himself outside the army, singing the male lead in a production of Brigadoon and other operettas, gigging with various dance bands, leading the jazz workshop orchestra for the Calgary Allied Arts Centre, and playing in the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Frequent trips to Edmonton to play gigs with Tommy Banks included playing in the band to back Bob Hope's show. Many afternoons were spent learning how to fly. After two years he resigned his commission and left for London England.
Quickly absorbed into the music business, vocal impressario George Mitchell asked him to conduct and arrange for the professional girls' chorus The Littlewoods, based in Liverpool, appearing frequently with the BBC's Northern Dance Orchestra, and doing many live concerts. Currie developed, arranged and conducted a BBC radio series called Voices and Rhythm, featuring the Littlewoods, vocalist Les Howard, and the Endio Six (the rhythm section of the Northern Dance Orchestra). Afraid that greater popularity would result in the parent company (Littlewoods department stores and pools organization) losing control of the group, it was dissolved in early 1962.
In London Currie found himself in a whirlwind of engagements with leaders Wally Stott, Nigel Brooks, Peter Knight, Canadian Robert Farnon, Mike Sammes, John McCarthy, and a host of others, doing recordings, vocal backings, film soundtracks, BBC radio and TV, jingles and commercials. In 1965 he recorded the theme for the Rankin-Bass cartoon series King Kong, the first anime cartoon released in the west. He was invited to join one of Britain's top vocal groups, the Fraser Hayes Four, doing extended top club engagements and BBC work. Singing in the session recording chorus (the music was prerecorded) for BBC TV's hit show The Black and White Minstrel Show, George Mitchell, who was one of the show's creators, asked Currie to be the chorus master for the show's transfer to the stage at London's Victoria Palace Theatre. Other than being paid, Currie received no credit, for Mitchell wanted the public to think that he alone rehearsed and trained the singers. That changed when Currie repeated this role twice, for the second company's summer engagement in Morecambe, Lanashire, then in Melbourne for the 3-year Australian/New Zealand tour, for he became one of the three lead soloists as well as chorus master. In 1961, The Black and White Minstrel Show won the Golden Rose at Montreux, Switzerland, as the finest light entertainment TV show in the world, winning over Perry Como and Sammy Davis Jr. In Australia and New Zealand they broke every box office record in both countries. That record still stands. Henry Fonda, Jack Benny and Trevor Howard came backstage to meet the cast.
In Britain again Currie was in demand on the club circuit around the country doing a single act, fitting in session work when he was in London. When an opportunity opened to be director of music at an experimental school in Camberley, Surrey, he took the job, still able to do session work on weekends and evenings. The standard of his work at the school contributed to the abolishing of the 11-Plus exam in Britain. He founded and conducted the Camberley Concert Orchestra, and became musical director of the Camberley Amateur Operatic Society, working occasionally with his old Kneller Hall Concords and Quintet friends Tony Kershaw and Don Pryce, both then Army Bandmasters. Hired over the phone to teach in Laval, Quebec (twin city of Montreal), Currie returned to Canada, leaving behind rich memories of working with, backing or associating with Joan Sutherland, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, Topol, Merv Griffin, Arthur Treacher, Gracie Fields, Stanley Holloway, Matt Monroe, Sir George Martin, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eddie Calvert, Ian Carmichael, June Bronhill, Percy Grainger, Sir Dick White, Kenneth Horne, Leslie Crowther, Peter Sellers, Vera Lynn, Anne Shelton, Harry Andrews, Stan Stennett, Bob Monkhouse, Jackie Collins, Frank Ifield, Lt. Col. Jiggs Jaeger, Lt. Col. Dougie Pope, Lt. Col. Duncan Beat, Lt. Col. Rodney Bashford, and many others.
He was one of the back-up voices on the Beatles All You Need is Love track. He performed on the soundtrack of five feature films: Carry On Sergeant(1958), The Cool Mikado (1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum(1966), Fiddler on the Roof (1967), and The Victors (1963), backing Frank Sinatra. He backed Sarah Vaughan for a BBC broadcast, sang in the chorus for the recording of Gounod's Faust starring Joan Sutherland, and in later years sang duets with Julio Iglesias (2002) on his Canadian tour and played a jazz clarinet duet on O Tannenbaum with Henry Questa on the Lawrence Welk Show (2003). I
He taught music and theatre arts in England, then in Quebec, and rounded out his teaching career in Ontario as head of music at Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener. Throughout his teaching career his choirs and bands carried the stamp of his professional career in music, winning numerous awards at home and in the United Kingdom and Europe. His Cameron Heights band was the first Canadian band to be accepted to perform a concert at Disney's Epcot Centre and at the JFK Space Centre in Cape Canaveral. He also played regular gigs with a trio co-led by himself and jazz B-3 organist George Kadwell, and sang with the Fritz-Patrick Trio. At Lulu's Roadhouse he opened for numerous bygone rock "n" roll and pop stars, among them Shirley Alston, Brook Benton, Lou Christie, Leslie Gore, and Bobby Vee, as well as the Woody Herman Band, the Buddy Rich Band, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Retiring from education in 1989, Harry sang at The Sands and The Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas.
He has performed with Rob McConnell, Ed Bickert, Guido Basso, Don Thompson, Terry Clark, Carol Welsman, Heather Bambrick, Charlie Biddle, Maureen Forrester, Dave Young, Peter Appleyard, Phil Nimmons, Rick Wilkins, Roger Kellaway, and many others.
Always involved with wind bands, Currie led several community bands in the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Performing in Kentucky for statewide celebrations in 1992 with the Waterloo Regional Police Force Band, Currie was commissioned a colonel by the state governor for his musical contributions. In 1984, when Queen Elizabeth II rededicated Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks in Brantford, Currie was the Principal Director of Music, coordinating a dozen musical groups and conducting all the ceremonial music. In 2000 he was appointed artistic director for Waterloo Region's Millennium Celebrations, for which he founded the Ontario International Tattoo as Producer and Principal Director of Music. The success of the Tattoo brought a repeat performance the following year.
In 1993, Currie founded the 40-piece pops wind ensemble Windjammers, composed of professional and semi-professional musicians primarily from the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario. A hybrid ensemble, the 40-piece group carries full concert band instrumentation as well as all additional instruments for big band music, namely a complete rhythm section of piano, string bass and drum set and a second tenor sax. The group has garnered considerable critical acclaim over the years. In 2000 Windjammers released their debut CD Swingphonic (Eclectic Records ERCD 0202), featuring previously commercially unrecorded swing versions of classical standards and folk tunes arranged by (and with the cooperation of) legendary composer/arranger Sammy Nestico, to positive reviews.
In addition to concert band and jazz repertoire, Windjammers concerts regularly feature guest vocalists and instrumentalists, dance performances, poetry readings, military services, and narration accompanied by onscreen visuals. Guest artists who regularly perform with Windjammers include legendary Canadian vocalist, actress, and media personality Dinah Christie, jazz vocalist Heather Bambrick, soprano Eleanor McCain, and guest conductors Lieutenant Colonel W. Scott Attridge, CD (Canadian Forces Supervisor of Music) and Lieutenant-Colonel Bobby Herriot. Other Windjammers concert guests have included vocalists Carol Welsman, Andree Bernard, and Almeta Speaks; vocal groups The Essentials, the Irvine Sisters, the Mantini Sisters, and Voice Deco. Jazz instrumentalists have included trombonist Rob McConnell, vibraphonist Peter Appleyard, and reedman Phil Nimmons. Other soloists have included conductor / pianist Brian Jackson, clarinetist Sgt. Scott Poll, and Thai classical dancer Rungrattana (Sai) Maungkorn. Recent concerts have been narrated by veteran Canadian actor Ted Follows, who took over as principal host from broadcaster Gabriella Currie in 2007.
Harry Currie returns to Canada several times a year and continues to lead Windjammers in semi-annual concerts. He has guest conducted the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra London Canada and the Thunder Bay Symphony, all in cooperation with fellow Canadian conductor and personal friend Brian Jackson. He led his eight-piece swing/jazz group Reflections on alto sax and vocals for 18 years until his conducting and teaching commitments in Thailand made it impractical. He has been (and continues to be) music director and conductor for the University of Waterloo's convocations (now 10 ceremonies each year) since 1980.
In 2005, Currie spent much of the year in Bangkok, Thailand, recruiting Thai musicians to create the Srinakharinwirot University Wind Orchestra. He recorded a CD which included the compositions of HRH Bhumibol Adulyadej, the King of Thailand to commemorate the 50th Birthday of the King's middle daughter, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is the university's Royal Patron. He also conducted a live concert for the Princess at her annual Patron's Day celebrations at the Ongkharak campus of Srinakharinwirot University, featuring solo performances by Canadian clarinetist Sgt. Scott Poll of the Canadian Forces Central Band, and award-winning luk thung vocalist Thitima Phayungwong. Currie has continued to live and work in Thailand for extended periods since 2006, working as a music advisor for two Thai universities.
Journalism and writing
In 1989, Currie began a journalism career, first as a freelance contributor, then as a staff arts and entertainment writer for , a Torstar newspaper in Kitchener-Waterloo, a position he held until the newspaper's reorganization in 2006. Currie authored more than 2000 articles, reviews and interviews for that paper, with occasional pieces for the Toronto Star. Currie wrote several articles criticizing the career and character of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, for whom the city was named on Kitchener's death in 1916, and suggested that the city revert to its former name Berlin in honour of the founders of the city who were horribly mistreated by Canadian soldiers in 1914-18. The articles caused a year-long furor in the city, reaching every major newspaper in the country plus several in Berlin, Germany. Currie was interviewed on nationwide radio and TV.
In 1995, Currie's first novel, Debut for a Spy, was published by Rivercrest Publishers / University of Toronto Press. It is a fictional cold war-era espionage novel based on the real-life experiences of the author during his military career and covert British government service. Music plays a key role throughout, as does his love of aircraft (he has flown a Spitfire and a Harrier). The novel garnered very favourable reviews from Books In Canada and other sources.
Currie has composed or arranged more than 50 musical selections ranging from string quartets to marches, ballads and swing tunes, several of which have been published and recorded. He designed the Currie of Arran Tartan in 1981, registered number 499, named after his ancestral home, the Isle of Arran.
Currie continues to be active as a reviewer and entertainment writer. He is a regular contributor to audiophilia.com, the online audio journal, and Odeum, a theatrical magazine for the Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario.
Awards
In 1949, playing in a clarinet class in the Moncton Music Festival, a surprising but fortuitous win with the highest instrumental mark of the festival brought the award of a partial scholarship to study music at Mount Allison University. This award opened the door to what would become his life's work.
From 1950 to 1952, Currie was awarded yearly scholarships at Mount "A" for outstanding achievement in music.
In 1953, at Mount Allison, Currie was awarded the Gold "A" for outstanding extracurricular participation.
In 1953, at Mount Allison, Currie was awarded the Athletic "A" for achievement in athletics.
In 1959, graduating from the Royal Military School of Music, Currie won the Somerville Prize for Military Band Arrangement and the Commandant’s Prize for Military Band March Composition.
Invited to be a contestant on the $128,000 Question Quiz TV Program in 1977, Currie won a considerable amount of money and a Buick Electra Limited car. His category was Frank Sinatra.
In 1992 Currie was commissioned a Colonel in the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels by the Governor of the State of Kentucky for outstanding service to the state. Considered a member of the Governor's staff as an Honorary Aide-de-Camp, he is entitled to the style of "Honorable" as well as the rank of Colonel.
Currie was awarded a Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999.
In 2002 Harry Currie was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.
On both July 5, 2005 and April 6, 2006, Currie was mentioned in the Debates of the Senate as one of Canada's finest conductors.
Currie was named Allisonian of the Month in the Summer 2006 issue of Mount Allison University's Alumni Magazine "The Record" along with a biographical article, and was also named Allisonian of the Week in the July 5, 06, edition of the university's Alumni Online.
On his retirement from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record in 2006 the artistic community of Kitchener-Waterloo presented him with the Actors and Artists Award for Outstanding Journalism supporting the Arts. This unique award was created for Currie.
Discography
Currie, Harry with Jeff Hudson and Eric Whitley. 1963. Three Voices Go Places. (LP) His Master's Voice Records(RCA) MCLP 6154. His Master's Voice (NZ) Ltd., Wellington, New Zealand (released June 1963).
[http://www.audiophilia.com/software/db1.htm Windjammers. 2000. Swingphonic. Conducted by Harry Currie, arrangements by Sammy Nestico. Eclectic Records ERCD 00202 (released November 2002).]
Srinakharinwirot Wind Orchestra. 2006. Royal Milestones and Royal Anniversaries. 2 CD set, conducted by Harry Currie with arrangements of HRH King Bhumibol Adulyadej's compositions by Llewellyn E. Matthews and Michael McLennan.

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