- Pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. Began with the orchestra of Abe Lyman.
- He produced Hugo Montenegro's album, Colours Of Love (1970).
- By 1948, Pleis was working at the RCA Victor studios on 24th Street, appearing on the cover of the January 1, 1949 issue of Billboard playing piano at the studio's holiday party.
- His surname is pronounced "Pleece" (to rhyme with "fleece").
- In New York, Pleis became successful as a pianist, arranger, conductor, and composer. He was one of Jan Savitt's Top Hatters, playing piano and doing arrangements, a position he left in 1942 to enlist in the Army during World War II.
- His orchestra backed Teresa Brewer and Bobby Wayne on their 1949 single "Copper Canyon"/"'Way Back Home" Pleis was also part of the Dixieland All-Stars group which backed Brewer's breakout hit (and signature song) "Music! Music! Music!" in late 1949.
- Pleis and His Orchestra performed the songs "Strange Feelings" and "The Blues I Got Comin' Tomorrow" for the soundtrack of the 1961 film, Force of Impulse.
- He also composed music for the television shows Family Affair (1966), Gunsmoke (1967), The Wild Wild West (1967-1969), and Dusty's Trail (1973-1974).
- Under the moniker The Sound of Our Times, Pleis co-produced and penned two songs for the 1967 easy listening, psychedelic instrumental LP Music of the Flower Children.
- In 1947, the Jack Pleis Trio provided instrumental support for Larry Laurence (with The Quintones providing vocal harmonies).
- The 1960s brought a move to Columbia Records. In 1961, Pleis and Orchestra backed Brazilian singer Maysa Matarazzo on her album Maysa Sings Songs Before Dawn,[62] he conducted for Billy Butterfield's album, The Golden Horn, and arranged several of the tracks on Lionel Hampton's album, Soft Vibes Soaring Strings.
- Starting at age four, he began his training in classical piano. He first performed in concert when he was seven. By the time he was eleven, he appeared on radio programs for children.
- Pleis enrolled in college intending to study medicine. To support his studies, he played piano in jazz and popular music bands. Eventually he left school and moved to New York City, where he began his musical career.
- Pleis left London Records, and his wife Eve Young signed a new contract with Coral Records, recording under her new name, Karen Chandler. Her debut for Coral, backed by Pleis' orchestra, was the song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," and it became an enormous hit. Selling over a million copies, it peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard charts.
- He recorded on London and Decca Records in the 1950s, and Columbia Records in the 1960s.
- During the course of his career, Pleis worked with many artists, including Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Benny Goodman, Earl Grant, Brenda Lee, and Joe Williams.
- He began work as arranger and composer at London Records under Tutti Camarata. The orchestra backed Ralph Young on his 1950 London single "Please Treat Her Nicer"/"I've Got the World on a String", and Pleis released his own single "Ragging the Scale"/"Story of the Stars", the B-side of which ranked at number 10 on "The Disk Jockeys Pick" in Billboard.
- In June 1950, Pleis married Eve Young, and the March birth of their daughter Michelle was noted in an April 1951 Billboard.
- In 1976, Pleis put out what would be the last album released under his own name, I Play the Songs the Whole World Sings, on Ranwood Records.
- In early May 1950, he accompanied his future wife, London recording artist Eve Young, on a promotional tour prior to her opening show.
- Pleis joined the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1950.
- Pleis produced several of Harry Belafonte's albums, Belafonte by Request (1970), The Warm Touch (1971), and Calypso Carnival (1971).
- In 1963, he conducted for Peter Nero's album, Born Free, and Pleis and Orchestra backed Liza Minnelli on her single, "One Summer Love"/"How Much Do I Love You?".
- Pleis and Orchestra backed Sammy Davis Jr. on a dozen tracks for Decca, including "What Kind of Fool Am I?" (which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1963), "The Lady Is a Tramp", "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues", "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me", "I Got a Woman", "There Is No Greater Love", "Gee, Baby, Ain't I Good to You", "This Little Girl of Mine", "Till Then", and "Mess Around".
- Pleis also produced Les Elgart's album, "It's De-Lovely" For Dancing and Listening, and released an EP, Medley from The Musical "Through The Years" and an LP, Stage Left, Stage Right.
- He produced the Kalin Twins' song "When", which spent five weeks at No. 1 on the UK charts.
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