With a chill in the air and Thanksgiving 2024 in the books, there’s nothing like a little holiday music to ring in the rest of the season. And perhaps, with no one in earshot, you might even sing along, right?

Even better: Try crooning carols in the summertime with dozens of others in a Southern California recording studio, no ugly holiday sweater required.

That’s the backstory and tunefully ongoing story of Milton Chapman, a 92-year-old Air Force veteran who resides at the Veterans Home of California-Barstow. Early in his adulthood, Chapman was a band member of the famed Ray Conniff Singers, a popular vocal group that he joined in 1965.

Now, Chapman regularly regales his fellow residents at the Barstow Home with song, as well as with stories of his time as a member of the Ray Conniff band, and later, as a member of other legendary mid-20^th century American bands.

“We recorded Ray Conniff’s Christmas album (titled ‘Here We Come A Caroling’) in August,” said Chapman. “In those days, everything was ‘live in studio,’ meaning we’d all be in one place, singing it all at one time.”

Why was a Christmas album recorded in August? In the pre-Internet era, it was imperative for musical acts and record companies to build in enough time to record the songs, manufacture, package, and distribute vinyl records well in advance of the holiday season.

Such is show biz, the calling that Chapman, who grew up in San Francisco, first found as a French horn and bass guitar player in the Air Force band at Travis Air Force Base during the early 1950s. When his military hitch ended in 1953, Chapman used his GI Bill education benefits to attend San Francisco State University (then known as San Francisco State College), where he continued to play and sing.

There, he met a young student named Johnny Mathis. Mathis went on to signing stardom, recording his own album titled “Merry Christmas” in 1958 that became among the 10 top-selling Christmas albums of all time with more than five million copies sold.

But it was another San Francisco State student — Anne Bohigian — who changed Chapman’s career trajectory. While in college, she formed a vocal group she named “The Axidentals” and recruited Chapman to join in 1956. The group rose quickly in the entertainment world.

“We opened for Nat ‘King’ Cole at the Copacabana, and for a young Carol Burnett at the Blue Angel in New York,” Chapman said. They also played Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theatre, performed with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, and appeared on network TV shows hosted by Steve Allen, Arthur Godfrey, and Bob Hope.

That all changed in 1961, he said.

“We headlined at the Radio City Music Hall with the Rockettes. I was standing at the side of the stage while they were doing their heel-kicking routine. I was dating one of them at the time, and I tried to catch her eye to make her screw up.”

Did she?

“No,” Chapman said. “She was too good.”

During that same run of shows, Bohigian met her future husband, Earl Zindars, a composer, arranger, and kettle drum player in the orchestra.

They soon were married, and “The Axidentals” disbanded after six years and three albums. Chapman went on to a long career that included gigs all over the United States and Europe, performing with Conniff and others. TV called again — literally and figuratively — in 1967.

“I got word they were auditioning for the Smothers Brothers show,” Chapman said. “I was living in Oakland at the time. I packed all my worldly belongings into my Volkswagen Bug and went down there.”

“Down there,” meaning to CBS Studios in Los Angeles, where he spent the next three years on the show as a background singer and musician. One day during a lull in a taping session, he and a friend played and sang a song titled “Hey, Mister Sunshine.”

“Tommy (Smothers) walks by and hears us, and says, ‘Sounds good. Let’s use it in the show,’ Chapman. And we did.”

In 1968, singer Glen Campbell filled in as the Smothers Brothers’ summer replacement, and Chapman worked with him as well. Campbell’s show went over so well that CBS added the “Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” to its lineup in 1969. That same year, Chapman worked as a musician on the “Leslie Uggams Show,” which lasted only one season.

“The ratings weren’t good enough,” Chapman said. “It was too bad. I really liked her.”

He went on to play background for singer Kenny Rogers, and also performed on the Princess Cruises ship featured in TV’s “The Love Boat” ABC TV Network series, and for other cruise lines.

As he got older, Chapman decided he needed a change of scenery and audience.

“At (age) 65 in Los Angeles, and trying to make a living playing music, I needed to find an older crowd,” Chapman said. “I moved to Palm Springs, which was more of a generational crowd.”

Settling there and ending the nomadic life of a traveling musician, he met the widow of another musician with whom he’d once performed.

“I got married (in 2004) for the first time at 72,” Chapman said.

Jeane Chapman passed in 2021. A year later, he moved to the Barstow Veterans Home.

“I’m with guys my age up here,” Chapman said. “It’s so much better than being alone. We are treated so well here.”

He still loves to perform and plays keyboards at the Home on occasion, entertaining the residents and staff alike. And as the holidays approach, he’ll no doubt make the season jolly.

This time, it will be along the more traditional line — in December — not August.

---

The Veterans Homes of California system of care offers affordable long-term care to older and disabled veterans as well as their eligible spouses and domestic partners. With eight facilities across the state, the services offered range from assisted living programs with minimal support to 24-hour skilled nursing care for veterans with significant clinical needs including memory care.

​For more information on the Homes visit the Veterans Homes website.

Would you like the opportunity to serve veterans in your work? Join the CalVet team! We are dedicated to ensuring that veterans from every era, along with their families, receive the state and federal benefits and services they have earned and deserve due to their selfless and honorable military service. See our current career opportunities at the CalCareers website.