07/08/2023
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen (July 7, 1927) is 96 years old today. He is an American retired jazz trumpeter who led the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
In 1949, Severinsen landed a job as a studio musician for NBC, where he accompanied Steve Allen, Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, and Kate Smith, and was a member of the original band for Tonight Starring Steve Allen, and was the soloist playing the closing theme. He left the show with Allen in 1957. 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 Severinsen was leading the band.
Under Severinsen's direction, The Tonight Show Band, styled the NBC Orchestra, became perhaps the best known big band in America. Severinsen became one of the most popular bandleaders, appearing almost every night on television. He led the band during commercials and while guests were introduced. He joked with Johnny Carson, the show's host, and developed an amusing habit of wearing gaudy clothing.
The show introduced a comic "Stump the Band" segment in which audience members called out the titles of obscure songs to see if the band could play them. Severinsen often cried "key of E", his signal for the band to strike up a western theme, and then he would enthusiastically sing a country music-flavored nonsense song.
Severinsen substituted for Ed McMahon on occasions when Ed was absent as Carson's announcer and sidekick. He typically assumed this role when the show featured a guest host, which became increasingly frequent during the program's later years. Tommy Newsom was usually the band's substitute director when Severinsen was away from the show or filling in for McMahon. The sidekick role was omitted from the show when Leno guest hosted (it was discontinued altogether after Leno replaced Carson permanently). While Leno guest hosted for Carson, Severinsen typically introduced Leno and led the band while interacting with Leno in a similar manner to his interactions with Carson and McMahon.
Doc continued as bandleader until Carson's retirement in May, 1992. Doc, along with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy appeared in 31 January 2005 episode of Late Show with David Letterman performing Here's That Rainy Day in honor of Johnny Carson who died on 23 January the same year. He appeared on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show in February 2015 when the show traveled to Los Angeles for a week. He played for the evening with The Roots. The appearance helped to promote his nationwide tour.
Through the 1970s to the 1990s Severinsen also made appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Bonanza, The Bionic Woman, Cheers and The Larry Sanders Show, among others.
Severinsen married Jane Simpson Frazer on June 23, 1949. They had four children. They divorced. He next married Evonne Nyman on August 7, 1964. They had one child and were divorced in 1976.
In 1980, he married Emily Marshall (d. 2023), who was a television writer and producer, and is an on-camera subject in a PBS documentary produced by American Masters titled, Never Too Late: The Doc Severinsen Story, that premiered April 2, 2021. They met when she was working as a secretary for The Tonight Show producer Fred de Cordova.[19] They divorced in 2006.
Severinsen's children are Nancy, Cindy, Allen, Robin, and Judy. He has eight grandchildren, including Blaire and Gray Reinhard, who write and perform roots rock music together in various incarnations as Curtis & Reinhard and the Blaire Reinhard Band. Severinsen has been quoted as saying that he has been married four times.
Severinsen's current partner, Cathy Leach, is a professor emerita of trumpet at the University of Tennessee.
