Paul Weston (March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as "I Should Care", "Day by Day", and "Shrimp Boats". He also wrote classical pieces, including "Crescent City Suite" and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses. 　　Born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts, Weston had a keen interest in music from an early age and learned to play the piano. He was educated at Springfield High School, then attended Dartmouth College and Columbia University. 　　At Dartmouth he formed his own band and toured with the college band. He joined Columbia's dance band, The Blue Lions, but was temporarily unable to perform following a rail accident, and he did some arrangements while he recovered. Weston sold his first musical arrangements to Joe Haymes in 1934. After Haymes requested more material, Weston's music was heard by Rudy Vallee, who offered him work on his radio show. Weston met Tommy Dorsey through Haymes and in 1936 became a member of Dorsey's orchestra. Weston persuaded Dorsey to hire The Pied Pipers after hearing them in 1938, and the group toured with the bandleader. 　　After leaving Dorsey in 1940, Weston worked with Dinah Shore and moved to Hollywood after being offered work in films. In California he met Johnny Mercer, who invited him to write for his new label, Capitol Records. Weston became music director at Capitol, where he worked with Jo Stafford and developed the mood music genre. Stafford moved with him to Columbia Records in 1950, and the couple were married in 1952. 　　Weston worked extensively in television from the 1950s to the 1970s. He helped start the Grammy Awards, which were first presented in 1959. He was honored with a Grammy Trustees Award in 1971 and spent three years as music director of Disney on Parade. Weston and Stafford developed a comedy routine in which they assumed the guise of a bad lounge act named Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. Their first album was released in 1957. In 1960, their album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Weston's work in music is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Weston was born Paul Wetstein in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Paul Wetstein, a teacher, and Anna "Annie" Grady. The family moved to Pittsfield when Weston was two, and he spent his formative years in the town. His parents were both interested in music, and when Paul Sr taught at a private girls' school, he was allowed to bring the school's gramophone home over the Christmas holidays. Weston remembered hearing "Whispering Hope" on it as a child. 　　At age eight, he started piano lessons. He was an economics major at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1933.During his college days, Weston had his own band called "the Green Serenaders"; this allowed him to pay his own college tuition.Weston also learned how to play the clarinet so he could travel with the college band. He went to graduate school at Columbia University and was active in the Blue Lions, Columbia's dance band. In January 1934, Weston was seriously injured in a train accident. While trying to catch a train, Weston grabbed a door handle as the train sped off. He was able to hold on to the handle and was dragged two and one half miles before losing his grip. Unable to be active in a band, he started doing music arranging as a way to keep some involvement with music while convalescing. When he returned to New York in the fall of 1934, he made his first sale of his work to Joe Haymes. Haymes liked Weston's work enough to ask him to do more arrangements for his band. His medley of Anything Goes songs was heard by Rudy Vallee, who contacted him and offered Weston a job as an arranger for his Fleischmann's Hour on radio. Weston was also doing arranging for Phil Harris. 　　He met Tommy Dorsey through his work with Joe Haymes. Following the Dorsey Brothers split in 1935, Tommy had yet to form an orchestra; he used the Joe Haymes Orchestra for his first engagement as a solo conductor. Weston joined Dorsey as chief arranger in 1936, holding the position until 1940. He became Dinah Shore's arranger/conductor and worked freelance for the Bob Crosby Orchestra.Weston also worked with Fibber McGee and Molly and Paul Whiteman.When Bob Crosby's band was hired for his brother Bing's film, Holiday Inn, this took him to Hollywood and into film work. He changed his name from Wetstein to Weston after his arrival in California.Weston was asked to do more work for Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, and also for Betty Hutton. Subsequent films as musical director include Belle of the Yukon (1944) and Road To Utopia (1945).