Eddy Duchin

Eddy Duchin (b. Edwin Frank Duchin, April 1, 1909, Cambridge, Massachusetts - d. February 9, 1951, New York City) was an American popular pianist and bandleader of the 1930s and 1940s. He formed his own orchestra 1931. At the begining of WW II he modernised the band to respond to e.g. Harry James' and Glenn Miller's challenge. Duchin entered the Navy during the war, serving as a combat officer but as an entertainer too. Columbia Pictures produced a feature film based on the bandleader's life. The Eddy Duchin Story (1956) is a fictionalized biography, with Tyrone Power in the title role.