Vic Caesar -

Vic Caesar (May 27, 1931 — June 21, 2000) was an American composer, producer, singer, and bandleader from Chicago. He built a nightclub career as a drummer, pianist, and vocalist, wrote the Richard Nixon campaign song “Nixon’s the One,” and became executive vice president of Public Records in 1970. Caesar moved into film music with Mean Mother, Ride in a Pink Car, and Alice Goodbody, then composed and conducted the jazz-funk score to Bare Knuckles and served as music director on the 1984 comedy Hardbodies.

Background

Vic Caesar was born Vittorio Louis Cesario on May 27, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois. His Italian immigrant father worked as a baker and filled the family home with classical records, opera, and a player piano. Caesar began piano at age three and added drums without formal instruction.

Caesar played drums and piano at age fifteen at Club 19, a Rush Street strip club, from behind a curtain. He won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago, where he majored in art and minored in acting; future illustrator LeRoy Neiman was a classmate.

Caesar joined the U.S. Navy around 1951 and trained as a dental technician. He served at Iwakuni, Japan, where he played piano at officers’ and enlisted men’s clubs and a local nightclub. Caesar also accompanied Marilyn Monroe on “It Had to Be You” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” when her Korea-bound tour passed through the base.

Caesar returned to Chicago and resumed club work on drums and piano. He took subsequent engagements in Reno and Las Vegas, including a vocal spotlight with the Chet McIntyre Quartet at the Sands, where Frank Sinatra urged him to leave the drums for a vocal act. Cesario adopted the Vic Caesar stage name and worked as a singer.

Caesar joined the opening roster of the first Playboy Club in 1960 in Chicago. He returned to the Chicago club on a November 1962 bill. The Playboy circuit took Caesar to Phoenix, where he also worked Mountain Shadows in Scottsdale. Caesar opened a hotel club in the Bahamas, where he met future wife Cheri.

Caesar and Cheri settled in Phoenix, where Caesar worked the Executive House in Scottsdale and the Colony Steak House on North Central Avenue. General American Records issued the 1965 single “Tik-a-tee, Tak-a-tay” (b/w “To the Ends of the Earth”), with Caesar credited as arranger on the A-side.

Caesar began a January 1966 residency at the former Colony Steak House, which the owners renamed Caesar’s for his engagement. His group paired pianist Chuck Hoover, conga player Rich Rodgers, drummer Dave Cook, and bassist Don Stewart with Caesar on vocals, piano, drums, and vibraphone.

That August, Caesar joined the opening-week entertainment at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where he worked Nero’s Nook through the end of the month. He returned to the room in the summer of 1967 on bills with the Kirby Stone Four, Mongo Santamaria, and singer Jana Mason. These engagements preceded his first album sessions in Phoenix.

Caesar wrote “Nixon’s the One” for Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign and performed the song at a Phoenix campaign appearance. The Vic Caesar Orchestra and Chorus subsequently recorded the piece, which Caesar revived for Nixon appearances through the early Seventies. Singer Jack Jones also recorded Caesar’s “Sun Warmed Tomorrow.”

Caesar joined Hollywood-based Public Records as executive vice president in May 1970 under owners Jim Pettinotti and Joe Koistra. The position gave Caesar a production role across rock, country, and pop projects and responsibility for developing outside producers, masters, and artists for the label.

Caesar moved into film music with the 1973 action feature Mean Mother, which credited him alongside Roberto Pregadio for the score. He wrote original music for the 1974 crime film Ride in a Pink Car. Caesar also composed and conducted the score for the 1974 comedy Alice Goodbody, where he appeared onscreen as Popadopalous.

Caesar scored Don Edmonds’ 1977 action film Bare Knuckles and appeared in the picture. Gucci Records issued the accompanying Bare Knuckles soundtrack as G303, with Caesar credited as composer, arranger, conductor, and performer. The album included “Gonna Getcha,” “L.A. Montage,” “Loving You,” “Shake Down,” and the title theme.

Caesar maintained ties with Hugh Hefner and Playboy through the decade and produced the Singing Playmates. His Playboy work also included an arrangement of Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh’s “Playboy’s Theme” for Bally’s 1978 Playboy pinball machine. The project preceded Caesar’s Cook County studio concept, which reached Motown with Pinball Playboy in 1979.

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