Norman Luboff

Norman Luboff (b. 1917 in Chicago, Illinois) played piano as a child, participated in choirs in high school, and began to think of music as a lifelong profession while in college. Luboff attended the University of Chicago and Central College in Chicago, and did his graduate work with the noted composer Leo Sowerby while singing and writing for some of the best radio programs in Chicago.

In the mid-1940s, Luboff moved to New York City to continue his career as the choral director of The Railroad Hour, a weekly radio show starring Gordan McRae. Luboff entered a period of enormous artistic growth and accomplishment during this time, scoring television programs and more than eighty motion pictures and recording with some of the United States' most noted artists, including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, and Doris Day.

In 1950, Luboff formed the Walton Music Corporation to make his works available in printed form. He founded and conducted the Norman Luboff Choir, one of the leading choral groups in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, recording more than 75 albums and touring yearly from 1963-1987. In 1961, Luboff and the choir won the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Chorus. Luboff guest conducted all-state, clinic, and festival choirs of every description in the United States and abroad. He died peacefully in his home in North Carolina in September of 1987.

Although a true professional in the choral world, Norman Luboff never lost his empathy for the musical layman. Two generations of choral directors have been profoundly influenced by his work, and millions continue to be touched by his legacy. Many of Luboff's arrangements and compositions are available through Walton Music. The remainder of the collection was donated to the Library of Congress in 1993.