About Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Under Severinsen's direction, the Tonight Show Band, styled the NBC Orchestra, became perhaps the best known big band in America. At 9, he won a state trumpet contest, at 12 he won the Music Teachers National Association’s national contest, at 13, he joined a multistate all-star band, and at 14, he auditioned for Tommy Dorsey, but was not hired. The leader of the Tonight Show Band, Skitch Henderson, asked him to return as first-chair trumpeter in 1962 for what had become The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and five years later, after Milton Delugg, Severinsen was leading the band. Severinsen became one of the most popular bandleaders, appearing almost every night on television.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.