Cal Lampley

Cal Lampley was an American composer and record producer. He was the second child of Hettie Marina and William Lorenzo Lampley, and had a brother named William Elwood. He graduated with a B.S. from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. His first known music contribution was as an organist of the Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church, the University of North Carolina's on-campus church. There he formed a group that was later going to be the first all-black, 45-piece band in the then white-only Navy. It was called the "US Navy B-1 Band." Lampley himself served two and a half years in the Army Infantry. Lampley moved to New York City in 1946 to continue his education at the Juilliard School Of Music. With an Artist Diploma in 1949 in piano after three years under the direction of piano teacher Irwin Freundlich and composer Richard Franko Goldman, Lampley debuted his performance as a pianist at the Carnegie Hall concert in 1953. He won a job as a tape editor at Columbia Records. During his 9-year stint with Columbia, he rose to the position of Recording Director of the Popular Albums Department.