- Vern Yocum
Vern Yocum (
April 15 ,1909 -September 13 ,1991 ) is best known as copyist andlibrarian forFrank Sinatra ,Nat King Cole , andNelson Riddle . Many of the top artists of the mid-20th century relied on Vern Yocum’s Music Service, which was walking distance from theCapitol Records Tower. His client list included:Frankie Laine ,Billy Eckstine ,Ella Fitzgerald ,Rosemary Clooney ,Mel Tormé ,Peggy Lee ,Steve Lawrence &Eydie Gorme ,Keely Smith ,Sammy Davis Jr. ,Trini Lopez , Nancy Wilson,Leslie Uggams ,Roy Clark , andJulie Andrews .Biography
Vern and his brother Clark (guitarist with Mal Halet and
Tommy Dorsey vocalist withThe Pied Pipers ) grew up singing and playing instruments inPennsylvania Dutch Country until they were seduced byjazz . Vern left home two weeks before high school graduation to go on the road with Floyd Mills and the Marylanders and would subsequently play with manybig bands , including Tal Henry, Bob Chester, Tony Cabot, Casa Nova,Red Nichols ,Chico Marx , Tommy Dorsey, andBoyd Raeburn . DuringWorld War II he remained busy building big bands in theUnited States Navy . In the late 1940s Vern began to rely more and more on doing music preparation on the West Coast, which was something that he had done to earn money while in bands directed by Tommy Dorsey and Boyd Raeburn. By 1950 he had completely transitioned into this field after managing and playing with The Bob Keane (Keene) Band.Yocum contributed significantly to the cause of many working musicians when he, Cecil Reed, and eleven other top musicians openly rebelled against
American Federation of Musicians PresidentJames Petrillo in a representation dispute during the mid-1950s. They hosted the first meeting of what was to later become the Musician's Guild of America in his office. Later he served on the negotiation team and successfully contracted changes which are still in force today. His collection resides at theUniversity of Arizona .External links
* [http://web.cfa.arizona.edu/vernyocum The Vern Yocum Collection at the University of Arizona]
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