A violinist, pianist, conductor, composer and arranger, Mantovani was one of the most successful orchestra leaders in the history of popular music. In the early 1930s he formed the Tipica Orchestra and began a series of lunchtime broadcasts from the famous Monseigneur Restaurant in London. The Orchestra’s trademark cascading strings, were unveiled on the tune "Charmaine," the first of his several million-selling singles and a classic example of the light orchestral style . But it was as an album artist that Mantovani excelled around the world, particularly in the United States. He is said to have been the first to sell over a million stereo units, and was awarded a special Ivor Novello Award in 1956 for services to popular music.