Joe Mooney (musician)

Joe Mooney (March 14, 1911, Paterson, New Jersey - May 12, 1975, Fort Lauderdale, Florida) was an American jazz and pop accordionist.

Mooney went blind around age ten. He and his brother, Dan, played together on radio broadcasts in the late 1920s, and recorded between 1929 and 1931 as the Sunshine Boys and the Melotone Boys; both sang while Joe accompanied on piano. They continued performing together on WLW in Cincinnati until 1936, after which time Dan quit music.

In 1937 Joe started work as a pianist and arranger for Frank Dailey, a role he reprised with Buddy Rogers in 1938. Through the early 1940s he arranged for Paul Whiteman, Vincent Lopez, Larry Clinton, Les Brown, and The Modernaires. He put together his own quartet in 1943; he sang and played accordion with accompaniment on guitar, bass, and clarinet. This group experienced considerable success in America in the last half of the 1940s.

In the 1950s, Mooney sang with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra and played with Johnny Smith in 1953. After moving to Florida in 1954 he concentrated more on organ. He recorded again in 1956 and the middle of the 1960s. He died in 1975 after a stroke.

Discography

"Incomplete"
*"You Go to My Head" (Decca Records, 1955) (Recorded 1946-47)
*"Joe Mooney's Song" (Atlantic Records, 1956)
*"The Greatness of Joe Mooney" (Columbia Records, 1963)
*"The Happiness of Joe Mooney" (Columbia Records, 1965)

References

*Scott Yanow, [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:difwxq85ldje~T1 Joe Mooney] at Allmusic