Winston Sharples

• Name — Winston Sharples • Born — March 1, 1909 • Birthplace — Fall River, Massachusetts • Place of death — Hilton Head, South Carolina • Known for — Cartoon and film music • Occupation — Musician • Children — 3

Sharples was born in Fall River, Massachusetts to William, a machinist, and Mary Sharples. He began singing in vaudeville shows at the Loew's Poli Theatre in Springfield, Massachusetts, at the age of eight. He taught himself to play the piano, forming a band that played at Ivy League college dances throughout New England. He graduated from Classical High School in Springfield in 1925.

After high school, Sharples formed the Burney Boys Orchestra, playing piano and orchestrating music for the group. The band played around the country. Sharples appeared on radio for two years, from 1930 to 1932, playing the piano on a 15-minute morning program at various stations in Connecticut. He relocated to New York City in 1932, where he played piano and occasionally bass with Vincent Lopez's orchestra.

In the late 1950s, Sharples and animation producer Hal Seeger formed a partnership called Scroll Productions that repackaged Sharples' scores from the Paramount cartoons into a stock music library, much like the Capitol Records Hi-Q library. Most of the cues were from late 50s productions, but some dated as far back as the 1952 Popeye cartoon Big Bad Sindbad. Besides the aforementioned Felix the Cat, productions using this stock music included the King Features Syndicate TV cartoons (Popeye, Barney Google, and Beetle Bailey), King Leonardo, and Tennessee Tuxedo. Later, Sharples cues were recycled into episodes of Seeger's Batfink. Sharples also composed the theme song for Seeger's Milton the Monster television series in 1965, in addition to using the stock music package for part of the underscore. Sharples continued at the Paramount cartoon studio, successfully adapting his style to smaller groups and even incorporating jazz and rock and roll styles for the edgier works of Ralph Bakshi, until it closed in 1967. Among other better-known compositions were "Puppets; When You Left Me" and "What Has She Got That I Haven't Got".

In 1931, Sharples married Daisy Shackley, a singing hostess at the Hotel Kimball studio of WBZ Radio in Springfield. In 1932, they had a son, Winston Sharples, Jr., who worked with his father as a music editor and eventually became a musical director himself on The Mighty Hercules. They also had a daughter, Daisy Sharples. After the death of his first wife in 1937, he married Carmela Parrino, an accomplished musician herself, and had a second son, Michael Sharples.

Winston Sharples died at age 69 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.