Jack Melick was the first husband of the late actress Nancy Dow.
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John T. Melick Jr. was an American bandleader, pianist, and arranger.
Born December 21, 1929 in North Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, Melick Jr attended North Plainfield High School.
Raised on the Great American Songbook of the 1930s and 1940s, Melick became immersed in the jazz and big band cultures of his youth.
Melick formed his first band at the age of 13 and had his first paying gig at the age of 14, playing piano for students at a local dance studio.
At the age of 16, fate offered him (and other musicians his age) a unique opportunity to perform publicly as the older, more experienced musicians were in Europe or Asia fighting World War II.
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He began playing local dance gigs culminating in a summer 1946 engagement at Camp Sagamore (an adult resort) in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.
Melick entered the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College (Ohio) in the Fall of 1947 and graduated in June 1951.
He subsequently had a 70-year career as an active band leader and pianist.
Jack Melick married actress Nancy Dow on August 25, 1956. However, the duo divorced in 1961.
Jack Melick and Nancy had one son, John T. Melick III, an assistant director and second-unit director. He also had two daughters, Andrea Cockrell and Mandy Wise from another relationship.
Jack Melick died on June 25, 2021, in Dallas, Dallas County, Texas, United States at age 91.
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