Les Brown, in the background, leading his band during a White House gala for returned American POWs from Vietnam, May 25, 1973.

Credit: Image donated by Corbis-Bettmann

Les Brown first teamed up with Bob Hope in 1947. For the next forty-seven years he was Hope's music director on radio, television, and eighteen overseas tours for the USO. Brown also led bands on television for Steve Allen and Dean Martin.