William Whitney Pursell (June 9, 1926 – September 3, 2020) was an American composer and onetime sessionpianist.[1] He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player. Pursell is best known for the top ten hit "Our Winter Love."
In 1962, he signed with Columbia Records, and the hit single "Our Winter Love" was released that year, which hit No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, in addition to hitting No. 4 on the Easy Listening chart and No. 20 on the R&B Singles chart.[3] A full-length album entitled Our Winter Love was released the following year.[4] The album reached #15 on the Billboard 200[5] on the strength of the popularity of the title track. The arrangements for the album were made by Bill Justis and Pursell, and the orchestra was conducted by Grady Martin.
bill, pursell, william, whitney, pursell, june, 1926, september, 2020, american, composer, onetime, session, pianist, brief, successful, career, musician, before, continuing, session, player, pursell, best, known, winter, love, contents, life, death, reference. William Whitney Pursell June 9 1926 September 3 2020 was an American composer and onetime session pianist 1 He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player Pursell is best known for the top ten hit Our Winter Love Contents 1 Life 2 Death 3 References 4 External linksLife editPursell was born in Oakland California and raised in Tulare He studied composition at The Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore and arranged for the U S Air Force Band while serving in World War II 2 Pursell studied classical composition under Howard Hanson at the Eastman School of Music and earned a master s degree in composition in the mid fifties His symphonic poem Christ Looking Over Jerusalem the first movement of Three Biblical Scenes for Orchestra was the inaugural recipient of the Edward B Benjamin Prize in 1953 Later that decade he worked with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and taught at Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University In 1962 he signed with Columbia Records and the hit single Our Winter Love was released that year which hit No 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in addition to hitting No 4 on the Easy Listening chart and No 20 on the R amp B Singles chart 3 A full length album entitled Our Winter Love was released the following year 4 The album reached 15 on the Billboard 200 5 on the strength of the popularity of the title track The arrangements for the album were made by Bill Justis and Pursell and the orchestra was conducted by Grady Martin His follow up single Loved reached Billboard position 121 Pursell later recorded for Epic Henry Stone s Alston and Dot but never hit the pop charts again He played piano on many of Johnny Cash s albums in the 1960s and worked as a session musician and arranger for Patsy Cline Johnny Paycheck Hoover Joan Baez Eric Andersen Scotty Moore J J Cale Willie Nelson Dan Fogelberg and others In 1985 Pursell was named Composer of the Year by the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Pursell became a member of the faculty of the School of Music at Belmont University in Nashville Tennessee in 1980 In 1996 he completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree DMA at Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York Death editOn September 3 2020 Pursell s daughter Laura announced on Facebook that he had died at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville after contracting COVID 19 during the COVID 19 pandemic in Tennessee and developing pneumonia He was 94 6 References edit William Pursell Belmont University School of Music Bill Pursell at Oldies com information provided by Muze Billboard Singles Allmusic Our Winter Love Bill Pursell AllMusic Billboard Allmusic William Pursell Grammy Nominated Composer Dies at 94 The Hollywood Reporter September 5 2020 Retrieved September 6 2020 External links editBill Pursell discography at Discogs Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bill Pursell amp oldid 1105553854, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
