Peter Nero (born Bernard Nierow; May 22, 1934 – July 6, 2023) was an American pianist and pops conductor. He directed the Philly Pops from 1979 to 2013, and earned two Grammy Awards, including the award for Best New Artist in 1962.
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Career
Nero made his television debut at the age of 17, playing “Rhapsody in Blue” on a special hosted by Paul Whiteman. He recorded his first album under the name of Bernie Nerow in July 1957 under the Mode label MOD-LP117 which shows his technical virtuosity in the jazz genre. Nero recorded Piano Forte in 1961, and won a Grammy Award in 1961 for Best New Artist. The next year, he won the Grammy for Best Performance By An Orchestra Or Instrumentalist With Orchestra – Primarily Not Jazz Or For Dancing for his album The Colorful Peter Nero. Since then, he has garnered 10 additional nominations and released 67 albums. Nero’s early association with RCA Victor produced 23 albums in eight years. His subsequent move to Columbia Records resulted in the million-selling single and album Summer of ’42.
His first major national TV success came at the age of 17 when he was chosen to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on Paul Whiteman’s TV special. He subsequently appeared on many top variety and talk shows, including 11 guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Hailed as one of the premier interpreters of George Gershwin, Nero starred in the Emmy Award-winning S’Wonderful, S’Marvelous, S’Gershwin (1972). Other TV credits included performances on PBS-TV’s Piano Pizzazz and with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., on its July 4 special titled A Capitol Fourth. Nero served as music director and pianist for the PBS-TV special The Songs of Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words (1997) with co-stars Johnny Mathis, Melissa Manchester and many members of The POPS.
In 1963, Nero composed and performed the musical score for the motion picture Sunday in New York. The title song has been recorded by over two dozen vocalists, and the score was nominated for both a Golden Globe and Hollywood Reporter Award. He also made an appearance in the film with Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, and Cliff Robertson. In the film, Jane Fonda’s character gave her brother (Robertson) a Nero recording.
Nero worked with notable musicians including Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Arthur Fiedler, Andy Williams, Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie, Diane Schuur, Johnny Mathis, Roger Kellaway and Elton John.
Nero was the founding music director of Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, which he led from 1979 to 2013.
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Personal life
Nero married Marcia Dunner and had two children, Beverly and Jedd, and three grandchildren; Robert, Nicole and Gordon. He died in Eustis, Florida, on July 6, 2023, at the age of 89.
Nero was active in many charitable causes, including the funding of school music programs, fundraising for the building of new arts centers across the country, and research on cancer, dystonia and autism.
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Read more of Mr. Nero’s extensive bio here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Nero
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at
http://www.wikipedia.com
July 2023
11: Toni Carbone, 62, Italian bass guitarist (Denovo), complications from a heart attack.
10: Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, 89, German jazz musician.
8: Victor Pikayzen, 90, Russian violinist and teacher; Özkan Ugur, 69, Turkish musician (MFÖ) and actor (A.R.O.G, Arif V 216), lymphoma.
7: Violeta Hemsy de Gainza, 94, Argentine pianist and piano pedagogue.
6: Graham Clark, 81, English opera tenor, cancer; Peter Nero, 89, American pianist and conductor (Philly Pops), Grammy winner (1962, 1963); Caleb Southern, 53, American musician and computer scientist.
5: Rob Agerbeek, 85, Indonesian-born Dutch pianist; Marcello Colasurdo, 68, Italian singer-songwriter and actor; Anthony Gilbert, 88, British composer and academic; Coco Lee, 48, Hong Kong-American singer-songwriter (Singer), suicide; Ralph Lundsten, 86, Swedish composer; Martin Stevens, 69, Canadian pop singer (“Love Is in the Air”); George Tickner, 76, American rock guitarist (Journey, Frumious Bandersnatch).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2023
Photo: Peter Nero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pnheadshot.jpg
Peter Nero, 89, American Pianist and Philly Pops Conductor, Dies // Other Notable Musicians’ Death
