Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was born at Halstad, Minnesota, United States, in 1918 to Joseph and Josephine Henderson, both of Norwegian descent. After his mother died in 1920, he was raised by his aunt Hattie Henderson Gift and uncle Frank Gift. His aunt taught him piano, starting at the age of four. Although he did not receive formal conservatory education in music, Henderson received classical training under Fritz Reiner, Albert Coates, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Toch and Arturo Toscanini, who invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Henderson would later recount his learning the ropes by playing in taverns with popular singers of the day.

After starting his professional career in the 1930s playing piano in the roadhouses of the American Midwest, Henderson’s major break came when he was an accompanist on a 1937 MGM promotional tour featuring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Henderson later said that as a member of MGM’s music department, he worked with Garland to learn “Over the Rainbow” during rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz and played piano for her first public performance of the song at a local nightclub before the film was finished. However this account is at odds with the memoirs of the tune’s composer, Harold Arlen, who said he first performed the song for the 14-year-old Garland.

In 1946, Henderson and the Golden Gate Quartet headlined a 13-week summer replacement program on NBC, sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes.

In 1946, Henderson formed his own orchestra and signed a contract with Capitol Records. Among his hundreds of recordings, spanning the era of 78s to DVDs, were two recent releases as pianist for Arbors Records. The two albums were Swinging With Strings and Legends (with Bucky Pizzarelli). He also served as conductor of The New York Pops with Maureen McGovern on With a Song in My Heart: The Great Songs of Richard Rodgers for Reader’s Digest and Centaur Records.

In 1950, Henderson had a disc jockey program on WNBC in New York City.

Henderson married movie actress and television personality Faye Emerson in 1950. They were divorced seven years later. He then married Ruth Einsiedel in 1958 and raised two children, Hans and Heidi. Hans was married to Sandra Watson for 18 years, before divorcing in 2000. Heidi was married to actor William Hurt from 1989 to 1992, and they have two sons. Skitch and Ruth Henderson owned and operated “The Silo,” a renowned store, art gallery, and cooking school in New Milford, Connecticut from 1972 until his death.

Henderson served as the original bandleader for The Tonight Show with founding host Steve Allen (as well as for Allen’s Sunday-night variety show), then came back to Tonight after the departure of host Jack Paar and his orchestra director José Melis. Henderson left Tonight again in 1966, during Johnny Carson’s early years as host, and was replaced first by Milton DeLugg and then trumpeter Doc Severinsen, who led the NBC orchestra until Carson’s retirement in 1992.

He was indicted on July 2, 1974, on charges of tax evasion for the years 1969 and 1970, concerning claims about the value (allegedly $350,000) of a music library he donated to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He further claimed he had consulted, regarding the value of his collection, with Leonard Bernstein and Henry Mancini, both of whom denied this. A signature on an acceptance letter from the library director was also deemed a forgery.

Henderson was sentenced on January 17, 1975 to 6 months in prison and fined $10,000. He began serving his sentence at a minimum-security Federal prison on April 9, 1975 and was released after four months, on August 4, 1975.

In 1983, he founded The New York Pops orchestra, which makes its home at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He served as the music director and conductor of the orchestra until his death in 2005. Henderson also conducted numerous symphonic orchestras throughout the world.

In 1997, Henderson was honored for the vital role he played in the cultural life of New York City by being awarded the Handel Medallion, presented by the City of New York, New York.

In 2003 Ruth and Skitch Henderson co-founded the Hunt Hill Farm Trust, an effort to preserve their farm’s land and buildings and to celebrate Americana in music, art and literature through the creation of a living museum. Henderson died of natural causes on November 1, 2005 at 87.

An affiliation with the Smithsonian Institution resulted in the Trust’s inaugural exhibit: Skitch Henderson: A Man and His Music. On January 29, 2005, the Smithsonian awarded him the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in recognition of his contributions to American culture.