Bandleader Arthur Joseph Mooney (born on February 11, 1911) made his way to the top of the charts in the 40s and 50s with his old-timey rendition of well-known pop standards. A self-taught musician, Mooney spent several years hustling on the road before settling down in Detroit and forming his own group. After riding the swing boom in the early 40s, he went in a more old-fashioned direction for “I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover” (1948), a jazz-pop standard that stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 18 consecutive weeks. That same year, his versions of “Baby Face” and “Bluebird of Happiness” reached Number 3 and 5 in the US, respectively. As his popularity grew during the 50s, Mooney scored yet another Number 1 with the novelty Christmas song “Nuttin’ for Christmas”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1955, and wrote music for the films East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant. The seasoned bandleader continued to perform throughout the 70s and 80s, becoming a staple of the Las Vegas club circuit before his passing in 1993.
