Norman Fowler Leyden (October 17, 1917 – July 23, 2014) was an American conductor, composer, arranger, and clarinetist.
He co-wrote with Glenn Miller the theme "I Sustain the Wings" in 1943, which was used to introduce the World War II radio series.
[1] He graduated from Yale College in 1938, attended Pierre Monteux's Domaine Musicale in Hancock, Maine, in 1961, and earned a master's (1965) and doctoral degree (1968) from Columbia University (where he also taught for several years).
[1] He began his professional music career playing bass clarinet for the New Haven Symphony Orchestra while attending Yale College.
[3] Miller called on Leyden in September 1943 to conduct the Moss Hart Army Air Forces spectacular "Winged Victory".
[4] In 1943, Leyden composed the theme music for the wartime radio series "I Sustain the Wings" with Glenn Miller, Chummy MacGregor, and Bill Meyers.
As he confirmed the title of his military musical unit, he was named the honorary president of the (formerly Captain, then-) Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra Veterans Association in 1994.
Leyden also conducted and arranged for many well-known artists including Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Don Cornell, Vic Damone, Johnny Desmond, The Four Lads, Johnny Hartman, Gordon MacRae, Mitch Miller, Ezio Pinza, Frank Sinatra, Jeri Southern, and Sarah Vaughan.
[9] Leyden's personal music score library, housed in an airy basement studio, included over 1,200 symphonic arrangements and 300 big band works.
[14] On August 28, 2014, the Oregon Symphony performed a memorial concert in Leyden's honor at Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland.