Roy Bargy

Roy Bargy
Roy Bargy
	File:RoyBargyRufenreddyCover.jpg Bargy in 1922
Background information
Birth name	Roy Fredrick Bargy
Born	July 31, 1894; Newaygo, Michigan, U.S.
Died	Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.; Vista, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Composer, musician
Instruments	Piano

Roy Fredrick Bargy (July 31, 1894 – January 16, 1974) was an American composer and pianist.

Biography

Born in Newaygo, Michigan, he grew up in Toledo, Ohio, where he was exposed to the music of pianists Johnny Walters and Luckey Roberts. In 1919 he began working with Charley Straight at the Imperial Piano Roll Company in Chicago, performing, arranging, and composing. He was the leader, pianist and arranger of the Benson Orchestra of Chicago from 1920 to 1922 (when he was replaced by Don Bestor), and later worked with the orchestras of Isham Jones and of Paul Whiteman and recorded piano solos for Victor Records.

In 1928 he was the first pianist to record George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F (in an arrangement by Ferde Grofé; with Paul Whiteman and his Concert Orchestra).

From 1943 until his retirement he was music director for Jimmy Durante.^[1]

Roy Bargy died in Vista, California at the age of 79.