Richard Hayman

American arranger, conductor and harmonica player Richard Hayman was born on 27 March 1920 in Cambridge, Maryland. He began his career as a harmonica player and arranger, producing music for various MGM films and later recording for Mercury Records. He's best known as the main arranger for the Boston Pops Orchestra, where he also occasionally conducted when Arthur Fiedler was indisposed, but he's also known for his stylised harmonica-centred arrangement for the 1953 hit single Ruby.

Hayman became Principal Pops Conductor of the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1976, and he continued to work until 2012, when he retired from the Grand Rapids Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the Space Coast Pops Orchestra.

He died in New York on 5 February 2014, aged ninety-three.