Buck Ram
Buck Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991), also known as Ande Rand, Lynn Paul or Jean Miles, was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb, and Paul McCartney. He is best known for his long association with The Platters and also wrote, produced and arranged for the Penguins,the Coasters, the Drifters, Ike and Tina Turner, Ike Cole, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others.
Biography
He was born Samuel Ram in Chicago, Illinois. Ram was a talent manager with his own firm, Personality Productions and an A&R man when Tony Williams, the brother of singer Linda Hayes, auditioned for him. Ram was looking for a group to sing the songs he wrote and found the voice he was looking for in Williams. He transformed the Platters and changed their rhythm and blues style, building around Williams' voice to make them sound like the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots. With talented orchestrators like Red Callender, Hal Mooney, Sammy Lowe and David Carroll, Ram produced all recordings by The Platters, from their signing with Mercury Records until his death, and wrote their biggest hits including "Only You (And You Alone)", "The Great Pretender". "Magic Touch", and "Twilight Time".
