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Skeets Herfut was born Arthur Relsmond Herfut on May 28, 1911 in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Denver, Colorado. While attending the University of Colorado he played in different bands. By 1934 he was performing with Smith Ballew, and through the decade with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, and Ray Noble.

After moving to California, Herfut worked with Alvino Rey, then served in the Army from 1944 to 1945. After the war, he flourished as a studio musician in Hollywood, California and led his own band. Between 1946 and 1947 he performed with Benny Goodman and Earle Spencer.

Into the 1960s Skeets’ studio sessions were with Billy May, Louis Armstrong, Georgie Auld, Jack Teagarden, Stan Kenton and again with Goodman. By the end of the 1960s he joined the Ray Conniff orchestra for several tours of Japan and Germany as well as recording sessions during the 1970s.

Herfurt bacme a member of Lawrence Welk’s orchestra and weekly television show from 1979 to 1982, performing on lead alto saxophone. During his career he recorded with Glen Gray, Ray Anthony, Joe “Fingers” Carr, Frankie Carle, Larry Clinton, Bob Eberly, Helen O’Connell, The Four Freshmen, Bob Keene and Pete Rugolo.

Saxophonist and clarinetist Skeets Herfut, who appeared as a saxophonist in the 1956 film The Nightmare, playing clarinet on the soundtrack, and performed on the soundtrack to the 1974 film The Fortune, transitioned in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 80 on April 17, 1992.

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