Werner Müller (2 August 1920 – 28 December 1998) was a German composer, kapellmeister and conductor of light classical music and, to a greater extent, popular music. In some of his works, he collaborated with Caterina Valente and Horst Fischer, the trumpeter.
In 1949, Müller took over the then newly re-established dance orchestra of RIAS Berlin [American Sector Radio], whose style followed the formula of "swing with a lot of string".
In the 1950s and 1960s, Müller's was famous for his composition "Sport and Music" from the sports reporting in the weekly show. A world success became his arrangement of "Malagueña" in the mid -1950s, composed around 1928 by the Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, in the vocal version with multilingual singer Caterina Valente. Müller proudly named his own motor yacht after this title. As a producer, Müller helped many vocal Europe-based vocal soloists from the post-WWII years, such as Rita Paul, Mona Baptiste or Bully Buhlan.
After 18 years in West Berlin, Müller moved to Cologne in 1967, took over the WDR Big Band there and was also seen in many television shows. Over time, dozens of records were created with the name "Orchestra Werner Müller", of which very few have made it into the CD period. Because of the umlaut "Ü" in his name, Müller also called himself "Ricardo Santos" for records abroad. His many tango recordings and instrumental titles such as "Baia" by Brazilian composer Ary Barroso or the Lecuona songs "Siboney" and "Malagueña" as well as many other titles became successful. Numerous contemporary, including international hits, were re-recorded by the orchestra Werner Müller as instrumental versions and used in the WDR radio.[1]