High society danced for years to the beat of Lester Lanin, 97

By Matt Schudel
The Washington Post

Lester Lanin performed for Queen Elizabeth II.

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Lester Lanin, 97, who made presidents, royalty and generations of debutantes dance to his steady, infectious beat, died Wednesday at his home in New York. The cause of death was not announced.

Mr. Lanin, who led society dance bands for more than 75 years, had been an itinerant bandleader since he was a young man, performing at hundreds of gatherings a year for his high-society patrons. He performed for kings and queens, fraternity parties, bar mitzvahs, debutante balls, celebrity galas and more than 20,000 weddings, including that of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Queen Elizabeth II changed the date of her 60th birthday party to fit Mr. Lanin's schedule. He led his band at the debutante party for Jacqueline Bouvier and later when she presided as first lady over the Kennedy White House. He appeared at the inaugural ball of every president since Dwight Eisenhower, with two exceptions: Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.

A small, dapper man who refused to dance to his own music, Mr. Lanin did not lead every band that appeared under his name. Rather, he had something of a musical empire, which at its peak in the 1970s sent up to 45 bands on the road and employed more than 1,600 musicians.

If someone wanted Mr. Lanin at a party, they had to reserve years in advance and pay a fee that could be $75,000 for a single night.

Mr. Lanin, whose age was often a matter of conjecture — he sometimes claimed to be "37, going on 36" — put down his baton three years ago. Until then, he was routinely on his feet for nine hours at a time, conducting his orchestra and keeping an eye on the dance floor. He never took a vacation.

"If you rest, you rust," he said.

He met Philadelphia society girl and future actress Grace Kelly when she was 8 and later performed at the Waldorf-Astoria ball celebrating her engagement to Prince Rainier. At the height of his career, Mr. Lanin was in such demand that parents would reserve his band 18 years in advance for their daughters' debutante balls.

Through it all, he never told salacious, eyebrow-raising tales of what he'd seen after the champagne, which he never touched, had flowed.

"He managed to lead the orchestra perfectly while talking to fans on the dance floor," said Letitia Baldrige, former social secretary to first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and a longtime friend of Mr. Lanin's. "He never, ever said a bad thing about anybody. He was a model of discretion."

Mr. Lanin recorded more than 36 albums through the years, selling more than 10 million records. But no one would call him a musical innovator, and his staid rhythms were often the butt of jokes among jazz musicians.

His only goal was to keep people moving and smiling. At a royal ball before the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, he played until 3:30 a.m., more than four hours longer than expected.

"That marvelous Lester Lanin," an excited Englishman exclaimed, "would have made an earthworm want to dance!"

Mr. Lanin's only marriage, to Marilyn Weiss, ended in divorce. He has no immediate survivors.