Percy Faith, born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 7, 1908, was a conductor, arranger, composer, and pianist. He was the oldest of eight children born to Abraham Faith and Minnie Rottenberg. He began playing violin at age seven and piano at 10. In the early to mid-1920s he performed as a silent film accompanist for silent movies in his hometown of Toronto. He initially studied music at the Canadian Academy and then, at age 14, he enrolled at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (now the Royal Conservatory of Music). His ambition of becoming a concert pianist was ended after an accident at age 18 left his hands severely burned. He turned his attention to composition and arranging, studying composition with Louis Waizman. Shortly thereafter he began professionally arranging for the hotel orchestras of Luigi Romanelli and Rex Battle. From 1929 to 1934, he wrote arrangements for the Toronto CKNC radio orchestra led by Geoffrey Waddington.

Previously in 1927, Faith had begun his own radio career at CKCL as an arranger-conductor for Simpsons’s Opera Hour. He joined the CRBC (now known as the CBC) in Toronto in 1933 as arranger-conductor of several shows including Gaiety and Romance, Mardi Gras, Cosmopolitans, Streamline, and Bands Across the Sea (1935–38). His entrance into the U.S. radio market began when he led his own show Music by Faith from 1938 to 1940, broadcast on MBS. As a result of the U.S. popularity of Music by Faith he moved to Chicago and became music director of NBC radio’s The Carnation Contented Hour (1940–47). It was during this period that he quickly rose to prominence as a contemporary music arranger. He composed piano, choral, and orchestra works during the 1940s, winning a $1,000 prize (just over $18,000 in today’s dollars) in Chicago in 1943 for his operetta The Gandy Dancer. In 1946 he became music director of CBS’s The Pause That Refreshes, staying in that post for three years. In 1950 he became music director at Columbia Records serving as an arranger and conductor in New York. His many successful recordings included collaborations with Johnny Mathis, Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, and Burl Ives. He also arranged several hits for the new star Tony Bennett, including Because of You (1951), Cold, Cold Heart (1951), and Rags to Riches (1953).

With his own orchestra and chorus, Faith recorded the hit songs Delicado (1952) and Song from Moulin Rouge (1953). Faith also was actively involved in composing for movies, being nominated for a 1956 Academy Award for the score for Love Me or Leave Me (1955), written with George Stoll. In 1959 he recorded the Theme from ‘A Summer Place’ which went on to become one of the most important instrumental pop hits of the 20th Century and is uniquely associated with then burgeoning ‘mood music’ movement. In 1960 Faith moved to Los Angeles to continue his tenure at Columbia Records. During this period he composed the theme song for the NBC TV series The Virginian (1962–67) and also scored music for several films including Tammy Tell Me True (1961), I’d Rather Be Rich (1964), The Love Goddesses (1964), The Third Day (1965), and The Oscar (1966).

In the early 1970s, Faith employed his trademark lush string technique in recording instrumental ‘easy listening’ versions of contemporary pop music hits such as Leaving on a Jet Plane (1970), Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (1970), and Black Magic Woman (1971). In 1975 he recorded an updated disco version of his classic Theme from ‘A Summer Place’ titled Summer Place ‘76.

During his storied career he released 45 albums, composed many film scores, and achieved three gold records: Viva (1957), Bouquet (1959), and Themes for Young Lovers (1963). He is often credited with popularizing the ‘easy listening’ or ‘mood music’ format which became a pre-dominant style in 1960s, now colloquially referred to as ‘lounge’ music. Faith re-imagined commercial orchestration methodology employing techniques that are still in use today. Percy Faith died on February 9, 1976 in Los Angeles, California.