Walter Murphy Band: A Fifth Of Beethoven, Expanded Edition CD

• WALTER MURPHY was born in 1952 in New York City and by the age of 4 attended music lessons held by renowned theatre and motion picture organist, Rosa Rio. In 1970 he enrolled in the Manhattan School Of Music where he wrote for the institutes Jazz ensemble.

• In 1972 after a friend introduced Walter to Doc Severinsen, the musical director of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, he presented him with some of his arrangements and Severinsen liked them so much he had The Tonight Show Band play them live. Unfortunately with the relocation of The Tonight Show production to California, that connection was lost and so Murphy spent the next two years writing jingles for advertisements and the popular TV show Big Blue Marble.

• While writing a disco song for a commercial in 1974 the producer gave him an idea to update classical music and WALTER MURPHY made a demo tape which caught the ear of Private Stock Records owner Larry Uttal who was particularly interested in his rendition of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 In C Minor.

• Originally released under the name of WALTER MURPHY & THE BIG APPLE BAND the song became a smash hit reaching #1 on the Hot 100 chart after climbing for 19 weeks. Following the singles success A FIFTH OF BEETHOVEN was released on an album of the same name and also included a notable rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight Of The Bumblebee entitled FLIGHT 76 peaking at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.

• HOT SHOT RECORDS is proud to present this lovingly re-mastered, fully expanded edition of WALTER MURPHY & THE BIG APPLE BAND – A FIFTH OF BEETHOVEN. Complete with extensive liner notes and added bonus content this remaster is a must have for all Disco, Soul and Funk fans out there!