Wayne King
American musician (1901–1985)
Harold Wayne King (February 16, 1901 – July 16, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was referred to as "the Waltz King" because much of his most popular music involved waltzes; "The Waltz You Saved for Me" was his standard set-closing song in live performance and on numerous radio broadcasts at the height of his career. King's innovations included converting Carrie Jacobs-Bond's "I Love You Truly" from its original 24 time over to 34.
Early life
Harold Wayne King was born in Savanna, Illinois, the son of Harvey and Ida King. His father worked for the railroad and traveled frequently, so when King's mother died in 1908, he and his brothers lived in the Annie Whittenmeyer orphanage in Davenport, Iowa, for a brief period of time. He returned to Savanna in 1911 to live with his aunt and uncle, where he was the quarterback and captain of the football team at Savanna Township High School, where he graduated in 1920. He briefly played professional football with the Canton Bulldogs. He also began taking saxophone lessons as a teenager. King attended Valparaiso University in Indiana for two years, but left to begin a music career.
Career
After playing alto saxophone for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, he created "Wayne King and His Orchestra" in 1927. The group opened the new Aragon Ballroom in Chicago in 1927, and they continued playing there for much of King's career.
The public source identifies “Wayne King” as american musician (1901–1985). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Wayne, King and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7976390. VIAF identifies the subject as 37102326. The Library of Congress control number is n93067550. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1901, 1985, 1908 and 1911.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wayne King” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.