Applebaum was born in
Newark,
New Jersey, United States. He started playing piano aged 7, after a doctor suggested it would help heal a broken finger, and began taking lessons. By the age of 12 he had started writing arrangements for his school band, and played at local weddings and events, and in clubs. He wrote arrangements for
Cootie Williams,
Lucky Millinder, and others, before serving in
World War II in Germany, where he joined the
US Army band. After leaving the military, he joined music publishers Edwin H. Morris & Co, and began composing. His reputation as an arranger grew, and he worked with bandleaders such as
Benny Goodman,
Harry James and
Charlie Ventura, as well as
Jimmy Durante. He is co-credited as writer of the
Billy Eckstine and
Sarah Vaughan hit "
Passing Strangers". Mort Palitz of
Jubilee Records asked Applebaum to arrange songs on a 1958 album,
Scotch Mist, by
Marilynn Lovell, and he also orchestrated
Al Martino's 1959 album
Swing Along. He studied under German composer
Stefan Wolpe, and became acquainted with fellow student
Mike Stoller. Working with
Leiber and Stoller, Applebaum began orchestrating some of their recordings. He arranged the orchestration on "
There Goes My Baby" by
the Drifters, the first
R&B record to use strings, and continued to work with the two producers and lead singer
Ben E. King on his solo hits "
Spanish Harlem" and "
Stand By Me". Among the other recording artists whose hits were arranged by Applebaum were
Connie Francis,
Neil Sedaka,
Brook Benton,
Brian Hyland,
Joanie Sommers, and
Bobby Vinton. In all, Applebaum is credited with working on over 25 top 10 hit records. In 1963,
Warner Bros. Records released the album ''Hollywood's Bad but Beautiful Girls
, credited to Applebaum and featuring his piano playing. He also wrote the orchestrations for the 1986 Broadway musical, Raggedy Ann''. He died in 2019, aged 96. ==References==