His face may not be familiar, but his voice is instantly recognizable to anyone who watched the Schoolhouse Rock vignettes of the 1970s.
Jack Sheldon was truly a “Jack of all trades”. Sheldon was an award winning jazz musician, an actor, a talk show sidekick and the singer of such Saturday morning classics as “I’m Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction”. According to his publicist, Sheldon passed away Friday of natural causes. He was 88.
This short video features a rare live performance (partial) of Sheldon and Bob Dorough. Dorough was the mastermind behind Schoolhouse Rock.
Sheldon was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1931. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music as a trumpeter in 1947. Not only was Sheldon successful in the music industry, he had many acting roles and was the longtime sidekick of the host on “The Merv Griffin Show”. It was his unique voice as vocalist of several Schoolhouse Rock classics, however, that resonates with an entire generation.
His haunting and sultry trumpet solo on “The Shadow of Your Smile” from the 1965 film “The Sandpiper” helped the track to earn Song of the Year honors at the Grammys and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.
