LOS ANGELES, Oct 14: Big band leader, composer and arranger Ray Conniff has died at a southern California hospital, according to the musician’s fan club and a US media report on Monday.

NBC television gave no cause of death, but reported that 85-year-old Conniff recently had been receiving treatment at a rehabilitation center for stroke victims.

Conniff made more than 100 records, including some two dozen top-40 albums.

He won the recording industry’s top honour — a Grammy award — for his recording of “Somewhere my Love,” the theme from the hit 1965 movie “Doctor Zhivago.”

Born on November 6, 1916, in Attleboro, Massachusetts, Ray was exposed to music at an early age: his father was the leader/trombonist of the local Jewelry City Band and his mother played the piano.—AFP