Harry Connick Jr Biography

Harry Connick, Jr. was born on September 11, 1967. Once hailed as the swinging successor to Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr. could soon be considered the next Jimmy Stewart. His love of music was instilled by his parents, owners of a record store in his hometown of New Orleans. They encouraged the boy's inborn talent, and by age 10, Harry was playing French Quarter clubs with a New Orleans jazz band. At 18, Connick moved to New York City to study at the Manhattan School of Music. While there, he looked up an old acquaintance, George Butler, who headed the jazz department at Columbia Records. Butler signed him up, and Connick's debut album (at age 19) won him critical praise and bookings at Manhattan's most prestigious clubs. Connick's first movie-making experience came when Rob Reiner asked him to work on the score to When Harry Met Sally.... Connick's lush arrangements of romantic standards resulted in a multi-platinum selling soundtrack album. The classically handsome young man was a natural for the movies, and he made a surprisingly assured debut in the 1990 World War 2 drama Memphis Belle. Jodie Foster cast him in Little Man Tate the next year, but after that Harry spent the next few years touring and recording. Following a lengthy 1995 concert tour, he returned to the screen as maniacal serial killer in Copy Cat, starring Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter. Connick's since been seen in Independence Day, Excess Baggage and as Sandra Bullock's salvation in Hope Floats.