Noble, Ray

Ray Noble Composer, bandleader, and radio actor Brighton, England, December 17, 1903; Santa Barbara, California, April 3, 1979. Noble’s extensive musical training showed in his dance bands with jazzy overtones. His father was an amateur songwriter and musician, and Noble was trained as a chorister as a boy, then attended university, and eventually studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 1926, Noble broke into popular music when he submitted a dance band arrangement to a popular music…