Ray Noble

Assertive yet playful, British pianist and bandleader Ray Noble honed his elegant style from childhood and broke into the musical world as a staff arranger at HMV Records. He formed his own sweet-swing band at the beginning of the 1930s, bringing in the dulcet, remarkably elastic voice of Al Bowlly, along with top musicians Nat Gonella and Lew Davis. Noble shortly would become the first British bandleader to have hits in the United States, both with versions of standards ("Isle of Capri," "Paris in the Spring") and with his own compositions ("The Very Thought of You," "The Touch of Your Lips"). In the 1940s, Noble regularly appeared in films, often playing the upper-class foil to the hero. He retired from music in the 1950s.