So This Is Showbiz!: Memories Of My Life in Music - Paperback

by Michelina M. Foster (Author), Cleo Ansteth (Author)

Cleo F Ansteth was a multi-talented musician and arranger for Hollywood and Las Vegas stars. His musical life experience ranged from the 1940s and the Big Band Eras, through the 1980s of TV, Rock and Roll, and Disco. In this enjoyable novel, Cleo portrays his life, memories, and times, from the vantage point of Stan, a Hollywood Booking Agent. We follow the Music Industry, through Stan's eyes, with its ups and downs, its triumphs and tragedies, and how it touched the lives of clients, fellow musicians and celebrities. Cleo Ansteth brings to light the changes in the types of musicianship which have occurred since the WWII Revues, studio bands, one-night stands, club acts with full orchestras which broadcasted live on radio, and their transition into the music of the film industry and TV show 'click' tracks. Cleo Ansteth's scores and arrangements can still be heard in the musical renditions of headliners and stars of stage and screen today. He is part of the great musical tapestry of our lives.

Author Biography

Cleo Ansteth was a graduate of Midwestern Conservatory and awarded the degree B.Mus. Trumpet Major. The famous Chick Bell gave him trumpet lessons. Cleo performed with Clyde McCoy, Hank Winder and Harry Diffenderfer - as well as his own orchestra early in his youth. His talent grew into the music arrangement and copyist fields. Later he settled in Las Vegas, Nevada and began orchestrating music for many Headliners: Paul Anka, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, Neil Sedaka, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, Wayne Newton, Debbie Reynolds, The McGuire Sisters, Engelbert Humperdinck, and Sigfreid & Roy to name a few. Cleo arranged and orchestrated music for the Desert Inn Hotel;, Splash at the Riviera Hotel; Fire & Ice at the Hacienda; Solid Gold; and Starlight Express and Music of the Night at the Hilton. Many of his scores have been donated to CCSD by his wife, Alice.