Ray Hackett
Ray Hackett "(né" Raymond William Hackett; 5 November 1909 Carlin, Nevada – 29 March 1987 Santa Rosa, California) was an American radio broadcast and dance orchestra leader who flourished from 1928, while attending the University of Nevada, Reno, to the mid 1970s in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he spent most of his professional career. Career. By the age of 15 (January 1924), Hackett — billed as "The Boy Wonder" — was playing popular piano music in Reno theaters. Hackett was a 1932 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. He studied philosophy with plans to become a lawyer. In  1928, while in college, he was leading his own dance orchestra. Following the Crash of 1929, Hackett lost his scholarship and began relying mostly on gigs from his dance band to pay tuition. He graduated and pursued music. His primary instrument was piano. In 1937, Hackett became music director at CBS in San Francisco. In 1939, he was appointed music director of the Golden Gate Exposition at Treasure Island. By 1949, Hackett's band was booked by Music Corporation of America. Hackett's tenure as music director for CBS in San Francisco endured through the mid-1960s. Hackett was music director  of "The Bill Weaver Show with Ray Hackett and His Orchestra," which began in the mid-1950s and continued through the mid-1960s. "The Bill Weaver Show" was broadcast on KQW radio, later renamed KCBS, from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Hackett also was the music director of the 1960 Republican National Convention in San Francisco. Education. Pre-college music Primary and secondary schools College Selected compositions. Songs Grove plays References. Notes Copyright citations Inline citations