Nelson Riddle

Riddle is the kind of artist I admire most: the genius who makes someone else shine. As arranger and orchestrator he transformed recordings by Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, lifting great voices into something transcendent through sheer craft. Conducting, composing, orchestrating, he was essentially an architect of sound, building the stage on which the singer became the star. That work is invisible by design and harder than it looks, which is exactly why I value it. His Academy Award and Walk of Fame star feel earned. The best collaborators rarely get the spotlight, and that is precisely their art.

Name (English)

Nelson Riddle

Name (Japanese)

ネルソン・リドル

Reading

ねるそん・りどる

Born

June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Rooster

Origin

Oradell, New Jersey, United States

Occupation

conductor / bandleader / composer / film score composer / orchestrator

High school

Ridgewood High School

Awards & achievements

• 1975 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score
• star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

• Official sitehttps://www.nelsonriddlemusic.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%20Riddle
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q961851

Tags

• New Jersey
• conductor
• bandleader
• composer

Last updated

2026-06-21

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.