Glenn Miller Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel. The son of Mattie Lou (née Cavender) and Lewis Elmer Miller, Glenn Miller was born in Clarinda, Iowa. He attended grade school in North Platte in western Nebraska. In 1915, his family moved to Grant City, Missouri. Around this time, he had made enough money from milking cows to buy his first trombone and played in the town orchestra. He played cornet and mandolin, but he switched to
Glenn Miller Orchestra (1956–present) Glenn Miller Orchestra (1956–present) The Glenn Miller Orchestra is a band formed after the loss of Glenn Miller, named in memory of him and the original Glenn Miller Orchestra. After the disappearance of Glenn Miller in 1944, the band was reconstituted under the direction of Tex Beneke, its lead tenor saxophonist, singer, and one of Miller's longtime close friends. A few years later, the Miller estate, having parted ways with Beneke, hired Ray McKinley, principal drummer in Miller's , to organize a new "ghost band" in 1956. Hollywood contributed to the band's popularity and that of its founder and original