Harry Connick, Jr., Inventor Extraordinaire

Whether you love Harry Connick, Jr. as an actor or a musician, he is also an innovative inventor.

Growing up in New Orleans, Connick's parents were both in the law profession: father, Harry Connick, Sr. was a District Attorney for Orleans Parish and mother, Anita, was a judge, lawyer and former Supreme Court Justice.

The fact that his parents also owned a record store may just have had some influence on the young Connick, Jr. He began learning keyboards at the age of three. By the time he was nine years old, Connick was playing a duet with legendary American composer Eubie Blake at the Royal Orleans Explanade Lounge.

He studied at the Manhattan School of Music where an executive from Columbia Records talked him into signed with the Columbia label. His first two records for Columbia, "Harry Connick, Jr." and "20" brought him to the attention of film producer and director, Rob Reiner. Reiner needed a soundtrack for the movie "When Harry Met Sally" and asked Connick to provide.

Connick came through, scoring his first Grammy for his work on the soundtrack.

When Connick made his appearance in the movie "Copycat" (1995) with Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver, people began to notice him as an actor as well as a musician. Following that up with his role in "Independence Day" (1996) alongside Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum and "Hope Floats" with Sandra Bullock, established the dual talents of this music virtuoso.

However, Connick had another talent, not quite as well-known as his music or his acting.

November 23, 1999, Harry Connick, Jr. received Patent number 6,348,648 for a "system and method for coordinating music display among player sin an orchestra." The patent was issued February 19, 2002. [1]

The patent reads, in part: The systems and method enables a conductor, composer or band leader to interactively edit one or more score parts of a composition using a pen-based interface, mouse, alphanumeric keyboard or a musical keyboard. ... The musical score parts may be transmitted to one or more musician stations by the composer. [2]

Using printed music sheets were awkward, requiring a musician to stop playing in order to flip the page. With Connick's invention, musical compositions could be transmitted digitally to the musicians. Conductors or composers could make changes on the computer at their station, and digitally transmit those changes to a particular musician or group of musicians.

Connick helped to organize a live telethon "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help provide relief for those affected by the hurricane. Connick appeared along with Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Kenya West.

Also in 2005, Connick and jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis announced plans for a Musicians' Village in New Orleans, constructed by Habitat for Humanity, providing qualifying musicians with affordable housing.

Connick married Jill Goodacre, a former Victoria's Secret model, in 1994.

Sources:

[1] Ironic Sans
[2] Google patents
Harry Connick, Jr. website
Connick website