Merv Griffin, the San Mateo kid who started out as a band singer and wound up as one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment business, died Sunday of prostate cancer. He was 82.

Griffin died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, where doctors said his cancer had spread to other organs. Although first treated for the disease in 1996, Griffin was hospitalized a few weeks ago with a recurrence. As he re-entered the hospital, Griffin joked that he was "ready for a vacation, but this wasn't the destination I had in mind."

Although he enjoyed a long run as a TV talk show host, Griffin will be best remembered for creating the television game show "Jeopardy!" in 1964. Although he sold the rights to the show to Coca-Cola, then part of Columbia Pictures, for $250 million in 1986, that program, as well as his other hit, "Wheel of Fortune," are still airing and will be forever linked to Griffin's name. Griffin also composed the tune played during the show's "final Jeopardy" segment, a melody that is arguably as familiar as "Happy Birthday" to most Americans.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/13/MNGRIFFIN.DTL

I didn't know he started off trying to be a singer! I do remember him hosting a talk show. Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy are the shit too! And what the hayle, the Final Jeopardy theme does not sound like no damn Happy Birthday! Not to me anyway...

RIP Merv