Schoolhouse Rock Singer Jack Sheldon Dies At 88

New York, NY (Top40 Charts) According to reports, Jack Sheldon, the iconic singer of Schoolhouse Rock's "Conjunction Junction" and "I'm Just a Bill," has died at age 88.

Sheldon was a Jazz trumpeter, singer, and actor born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1931.
He's known for his association with the 1950s West Coast Jazz movement.

He was also known as Merv Griffin's long-time music director and sidekick on "The Merv Griffin Show."

Sheldon appeared in an Oscar-nominated documentary film Let's Get Lost about the life of fellow jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. He made an appearance in the 1994 film Radioland Murders as the ill-fated trumpet player Ruffles Reedy, who becomes a victim of the gruesome goings-on during a 1939 radio show.

Jack's poignant trumpet solo on "The Shadow of Your Smile," which was introduced in the 1965 film "The Sandpiper," helped earn it Song of the Year at the Grammys and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.

Sheldon performed one of the many versions of the title song featured in Robert Altman's 1973 film The Long Goodbye. His version was intended to be released as a single, but never was.

Sheldon is the subject of a documentary, Trying to Get Good: the Jazz Odyssey of Jack Sheldon (2008). Produced by Doug McIntyre and Penny Peyser, the film features interviews with Clint Eastwood, Billy Crystal, Merv Griffin, Chris Botti, Dave Frishberg, Johnny Mandel, Tierney Sutton, as well as never before seen concert footage of Sheldon playing, singing and joking. Trying to Get Good won Jury Prizes at the 2008 Kansas City Film Makers Jubilee and Newport Beach Film Festival, as well as Audience Prizes at Newport Beach and the Indianapolis International Film Festival.