Harry Simeone - Overview

Harry Moses Simeone (May 9, 1910 – February 22, 2005) was an American music arranger, conductor and composer, best known for arranging the famous Christmas song The Little Drummer Boy, for which he received co-writing credit. When the Twentieth-Century Fox Records label contracted Simeone to make a Christmas album in 1958, he assembled a group he called The Harry Simeone Chorale and searched for recording material. After being introduced to an obscure song by friend and credited song co-author Henry Onorati, titled Carol of the Drum, Simeone changed the title to The Little Drummer Boy and recorded it under that title for his album Sing We Now of Christmas. He received joint authorship-and-composition credit for the album, although he did not actually write or compose the song.