George Hamilton

George "Spike" Hamilton (January 13, 1901– March 31, 1957) was a popular bandleader and songwriter who led a band based at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles. Among the musicians in the band were Ray Robbins, Spike Jones, and Leighton Noble. Born in Newport, Vermont as George William Hamilton, the son of Dr. Harry Hamilton, a dentist. His family owned a store in Newport that was founded by his mother's father in 1859. He studied violin as a child, attended local schools in Newport and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1923. While at Dartmouth he organized a dance orchestra, later known as the Barbary Coast Orchestra. After leaving Dartmouth his orchestra played in Chicago and then in Atlantic City at the Million Dollar Pier. In the early 1930s he began recording with Rudy Vallee and George White's Scandals. His first song, "Bye Bye, Pretty Baby" was published in 1927. Other songs included "Betty Co-ed", "I'll Never Forget", "Somebody Nobody Loves", and "What Am I Supposed to Do." Hamilton appeared in the movie Gift of Gab (1934), and in the short film Sunday Night at the Trocadero (1937).