Page, Gene (13 September 1938-24 August 1998)

Arranger and composer from Los Angeles, California, who started out on the piano and studied at home with his dad until landing a scholarship to the Brooklyn Conservatory.

After graduation, he returned to the City of Angels and became an arranger for Reprise Records in 1962. In 1963, he and Barry White co-arranged “Harlem Shuffle”, which became a minor hit for Bob and Earl on the R&B chart. Barry was so impressed by Gene, he hired him to arrange all of his records. This turned out to be a very fruitful collaboration, resulting in the creation of the Love Unlimited Orchestra.

A couple of Gene’s early successes as an arranger were “The In Crowd” by Dobie Gray, which peaked at #11 on the R&B chart, and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers, which reached #3 on the R&B chart and spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1969, he wrote the music for the children’s television program, H.R. Pufnstuf. He also penned the scores of the feature films, Blacula, Brewster McCloud and Fun With Dick and Jane. Other cinematic credits include Bridget Jones’s Diary, Dirty Dancing, Endless Love, Grace of My Heart, Money Talks, Soul Man and Top Gun.

In the mid-‘70s, he began to release his own albums. Hot City, issued in 1974, cracked the Billboard Top 200 and went to #41 on the R&B chart. A pair of singles, “All Our Dreams Are Coming True” and “Satin Soul”, peaked at #9 and #4 respectively on the U.S. dance chart in 1975. In 1976, Lovelock! managed the #45 spot on the R&B chart. His disco version of the theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind reached #30 on the R&B chart in 1978. In 1980, he unveiled one more album, Love Starts After Dark.

Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, he seemed to have the Midas touch. To date, 200 of the recordings on which he toiled have reached gold and/or platinum status. A few of the hits that benefited from his arrangements are “Endless Love” by Lionel Richie & Diana Ross, “Philadelphia Freedom” by Elton John, “Saving All My Love For You” by Whitney Houston, “Tonight I Celebrate My Love” by Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack and “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams.

His discography reads like a who’s who of late 20^th century pop music and includes Blue Moves by Elton John, Christmas by Kenny Rogers, The Chrome Collection by the Spinners, Come See About Me by Neil Sedaka, Dad Loves His Work by James Taylor, Endless Flight by Leo Sayer, Fate for Breakfast by Art Garfunkel, Foxy Lady by Cher, Joyful Jukebox Music by the Jackson 5, Living Without Your Love by Dusty Springfield, Love Language by Teddy Pendergrass, One Day in Your Life by Michael Jackson, Out of the Shadows by Paul Jackson, Jr., Pastiche by the Manhattan Transfer, Recently by Joan Baez, Rise by Herb Alpert, Set My Love in Motion by Syreeta, Singer of Songs–Teller of Tales by Paul Davis, That’s What Friends Are For by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams, The 35th Anniversary Collection by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and Touch Me in the Morning by Diana Ross.

Gene passed away on 24^th August 1998 after a long illness, at UCLA Medical Center in L.A.

Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (Nat Kipner/John Vallins)
S CBS 6164 (UK 45)

https://youtu.be/7BX-A51fh9k

Sources:

Page, Gene (13 September 1938-24 August 1998)

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