Musicians share their memories of Local 47’s Harold Wheeler.

Jennifer Hall

“Harold was truly a wonderful musician and band leader for Dancing with the Stars from 2006-2014. What I loved most about Harold was that he was still ‘one of the guys in the band’ and always had amazing stories about his experiences in music and life. Harold was kind and generous and I feel very blessed and grateful to have been playing baritone saxophone in the band all of those years under his stellar musicianship and guidance. Rest in peace, dear Harold.”

Rick Baptist

“Harold studied at the Manhattan School of Music and graduated with a degree in Music. He continued his education at Howard University, where he honed his talent for composing, orchestration, arranging, and conducting.

When Harold left Howard University, he moved to New York and started to play piano in the pit on many Broadway shows. He received his big break in 1968 when Burt Bacharach hired him to conduct his smash hit Broadway show ‘Promises, Promises’. At that time, Harold was only 25 years old and became the first person of color to conduct a Broadway show.

Harold continued to succeed on Broadway, orchestrating many hit shows such as ‘The Wiz’, ‘Dream Girls’, ‘Lena Horne-The Lady and Her Music’, ‘Hairspray’ and more than 30 other Broadway shows. He received 7 Tony nominations and 6 Drama Desk Awards for orchestration. In 2019, Harold received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. In addition, he received a Lifetime Award for Theater from the NAACP.

In 2005, Harold and his family moved to Los Angeles, and he was called to work on a new live TV show called ‘Dancing With The Stars.’  He hired Bill Hughes to contract 20 musicians and 3 singers and used Bill’s music copyist staff.

We musicians and singers were hired to do 6 shows as a summer replacement show. Those shows were such a success for ABC that “Dancing with The Stars” continued and we were the house band for the next 17 seasons until 2014.

During that time, Harold conducted the Oscars 3 times and the Emmys 7 times, in addition to many other projects.

On a personal note, working for Harold and Bill was truly a family affair. The orchestra and singers were all treated with respect, appreciation, loyalty, and most of all love.  I will truly miss Harold and his friendship. God bless his soul.”