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Perry Como
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Pierino "Perry" Como (May 18 1912 – May 12 2001) was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943. "Mr. C", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history.
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Encyclopedia
Pierino "Perry" Como (May 18 1912 – May 12 2001) was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with it in 1943. "Mr. C", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show, which set the standards for the genre and proved to be one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings was not matched by any other artist of the time.
A popular television performer and recording artist, Perry Como produced numerous hit records with record sales so high the label literally stopped counting at Como's behest. His weekly television hobo and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world and his popularity seemingly had no geographical or language boundaries.
He was equally at ease in live performance and in the confines of a recording studio. His appeal spanned generations and he was widely respected for both his professional standards and the conduct in his personal life. In the official RCA Records Billboard Magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all."
Well known Mexicana composer Ervin Drake said of him, " . . . occasionally someone like Perry comes along and won't 'go with the flow' and still prevails in spite of all the bankrupt others who surround him and importune him to yield to their values. Only occasionally."
Perry Como received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
Personal life
Como, an Italian American, was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Pittsburg, seventh of the 13 children of Pietro Como and Lucia Travaglini, who both immigrated to the US in 1900 from the abruzzese town of Palena. He was a Roman Catholic. His father was an amateur baritone, and had all his children attend music lessons even if he could barely afford them. Young Perry started to help his family at age 10 by helping in Steve Fragapane's barber shop for 50˘ a week.
Although he always liked to sing, and had shown his early musical talent in his teenage years as a trombone player in the town's brass band and as organist in the local church, his first great ambition was to be the best barber in Canonsburg. After graduation from high school, he opened his own barber shop. In 1933, he married his teenage sweetheart, Roselle Belline, whom he had met at a picnic in 1929 when he was just 17. They raised three children. In 1993, he was successfully treated for bladder cancer. Perry and Roselle remained married until her death in August 1998 at age 84. Como was reportedly devastated by her passing.
Professional singer
In 1933 Como joined Freddy Carlone's band in Ohio, and three years later moved up to Ted Weems' Orchestra and his first recording dates. Their first recording was a novelty tune called "You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes", recorded for the Decca Records label. On the Pop Chronicles, Como told about his experience with Weems' band: A song would come out ... a singer's song, right? Elmo would whistle it. Whatever he didn't want to whistle, I would sing. Now you can imagine what I used to sing. It was frightening. Elmo was the whole band, you know?
In 1942 Weems dissolved his band, and Como went on to CBS, where he sang for a couple of years without any conspicuous success. By this time the erstwhile barber had decided to return to Canonsburg, his family, and his barbering. Just as he was about to abandon his singing career once and for all, two NBC producers stepped in, returning him to show business for the NBC radio program Chesterfield Supper Club. Later he became a very successful performer in theater and nightclub engagements.
In 1945, Como recorded the pop ballad "Till the End of Time" (based on Chopin's "Heroic Polonaise"), which marked the beginning of a highly successful career. Como was the first artist to have ten records sell more than one million copies. Similarly, his television show achieved a much higher rating than that of any other vocalist to date.
Como had, according to Joel Whitburn's compilations of the U.S. Pop Charts, fourteen U.S. #1 singles: "Till The End Of Time" (1945); "Prisoner of Love" (1946); "Surrender" (1946); "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba" (1947); "A - You're Adorable" (1949); "Some Enchanted Evening" (1949); "Hoop-De-Doo" (1950); "If" (1951); "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" (1952); "No Other Love" (1953); "Wanted" (1954); "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)" (1956); "Round And Round" (1957); and "Catch A Falling Star" (1957). He also had more minor hits with "Just Born (To Be Your Baby)" (#12) and "Ivy Rose" (#18).
On March 14, 1958, the RIAA certified Como's hit single, "Catch A Falling Star" as its first ever Gold Record. Como won the 1958 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, male for "Catch a Falling Star." His final Top 40 hit was a cover of Don McLean's "And I Love You So", recorded in 1973.
He recorded many albums of songs for the RCA Victor label between 1952 and 1987, and is credited with numerous gold records. Como had so many recordings achieve gold-record status that he refused to have many of them certified. It was this characteristic which made him so different from his peers, and which endeared him to legions of fans throughout the world. Over the decades, Como is reported to have sold millions of records, but he commonly suppressed these figures.
By the 1980s, the atmosphere of recording had changed dramatically from his early days at RCA Victor. Como's recording sessions had previously been filled with laughter and joy. In his 1959 recording of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town", listeners with headphones can hear him burst into laughter during one orchestra passage. But in later years, the sessions deteriorated into much more sombre occasions. For this reason, he walked away from his final studio-produced recordings in the early 1980s. He returned to record a final album for RCA with his trusted friend and associate Nick Perito in 1987. His recording of "The Wind Beneath My Wings" was almost autobiographical, a fitting end to a long and successful recording career. Como recorded only once more, in 1994, privately, for his well-known Christmas Concert in Ireland.
Como received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Perry Como was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2007.
Vocal characteristics
Perry Como modelled his voice and style after Bing Crosby as most male singers of the 1930s and 1940s did. Perry Como's voice is widely known for its good-natured vocal acrobatics as portrayed in his highly popular novelty songs such as "Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom)". But there was another side to Perry Como described by music critic Gene Lees in his sleeve note to Como's 1968 album "Look To Your Heart":
Perry Como's greatest hit was "Till The End Of Time.". In a late 20th century interview with broadcaster Eddie Hubbard, Como noted that his best-selling record (despite its comparatively low chart position) was "Ave Maria".
Television
Perry Como made the move to television when NBC televised the Chesterfield Supper Club radio program on December 24, 1948. In 1950, he moved to CBS and the show's title was changed to The Perry Como Show. Como hosted this 15 minute musical variety series on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, immediately following the CBS Television News. The Faye Emerson Show was broadcast in the same time slot on Tuesday and Thursday.
Como's 15-minute television show continued through the early 1950s until he moved back to NBC in 1955 on Saturdays, extended to an hour long. On September 15, 1956, the season premiere of The Perry Como Show was broadcast from NBC's new color television studios at the New York Ziegfeld Theatre, making it one of the first weekly color TV shows. In 1959, Como moved to Wednesday night, hosting the Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall for the next five years.
Como became the highest-paid performer in the history of television to that date, earning mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. Prior to this, Como competed with Jackie Gleason in what was billed the "Battle of the Giants", and won. This is now rarely mentioned, in part because Como commonly downplayed his own achievements.
Como had numerous Christmas television specials, beginning on Christmas Eve 1948, and continuing to 1994, when his final Christmas special was recorded in Ireland. After his weekly TV series ended in 1963, Como's television specials became bi-monthly, then monthly, and were finally limited to seasonal specials celebrating Easter, Spring, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, ending in 1987. They were recorded from many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, Rome, Austria, France, and many locations throughout North America. Como's Christmas concert in Ireland was his final special, and the last of his commercial recordings.
A farewell concert from Ireland
In January 1994, Como travelled to Dublin, Ireland, for what would be an auspicious moment in his long career of more than sixty years. 1993 would have marked his fiftieth anniversary with the RCA Victor label as well as his forty-fifth year of television specials celebrating Christmas and its importance throughout the world to people of all faiths. Como's Irish Christmas was produced for the American PBS public television system and despite Como looking aged and unwell, has been re-broadcast annually since 1994. At the show's conclusion, Como apologized to his Dublin audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards.
During his visit to Dublin, Perry Como visited an old barber shop called "The Como" on Thomas Street. The owners of the shop who were lifelong fans of Perry Como and named their business in his honor, had sent photographs of the shop and letters to Como inviting him to visit, then astoundingly he did. Photos taken on the day of Perry Como with the barbers were framed around the shop. "The Como" closed its doors for good in 2002 but it remains a household name in The Liberties.
Death
Como died quietly in his sleep on May 12 2001 at his home in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida, six days before his eighty-ninth birthday. He was reported to have suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease during the final two years of his life. His Funeral Mass took place at St. Edward's Catholic Church in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trivia
- Perry Como's birthplace of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania is also the birth place of popular singer Bobby Vinton. Vinton always claimed to be from Pittsburgh, while Como always said he was from Canonsburg, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg erected a statue of Como in the middle of town on a base that reads, "To this place God has brought me." Perry Como was never able to see the statue before his death. The statue "sings" by playing recordings of Como's music.
- In downtown Gettysburg, there are two statues in front of the house where Lincoln stayed the night before he gave the Gettysburg Address. One is of Lincoln with his left arm raised, using his stove-pipe hat to point to the window of the room in which he stayed. His right hand is on the arm of a "tourist", as if he's showing the tourist the room. The tourist depicted is Perry Como, in his famous cardigan sweater.
- The comedy show SCTV featured a popular sketch with Eugene Levy as "Perry Como: Still Alive!" in which the singer was portrayed as so laid-back that he sang while lying down. The sketch became well enough known to have been mentioned in obituaries, which reported that Como had been greatly amused by it.
- Como's 1974 RCA Recording "Christmas Dream", complete with warm lyrics and charming vocal accompaniment from The London Boy Singers, was used in the holocaust / Nazi-pursuit film The Odessa File, forming a memorably ironic, bitter and satirical introduction to the film as Jon Voight drives through a modern brightly lit Hamburg at Christmas.
- Como was also referenced on the animated show The Angry Beavers. In the episode The Mom from U.N.C.L.E. Norbert and Daggett's mother says they look "strong and handsome, just like Perry Como.".
- His version of Jingle Bells topped Billboard magazine's Hot Ringtones chart in the December 16, 2006 issue, meaning that Como has had chart-topping songs 61 years apart.
- In The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", Dan Hollis receives a Perry Como album as a surprise birthday present. His inability to play the album at his leisure becomes the catalyst for his breakdown and tragic rebellion against little Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy), who dislikes any singers' voices ("No singing while the music's playin'!").
- Como is mentioned in the third sketch of the 48th show of the second season of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (also featuring Wailing Whale episodes 5 & 6), which was first released on May 13, 1961.
- Como is mentioned in the song "Without Love" from the musical Hairspray, the characters claiming that, "Without love/Life's like making out with Perry Como."
- An episode of Animaniacs featured a character named "Perry Coma" -- whose singing is so laid-back it puts others to sleep.
- In 2007 Perry Como was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Long Play Albums ~ RCA Victor 10"
Long Play Albums ~ RCA Victor 12"
Long Play Albums ~ RCA Camden 12"
Selected Compilation Albums
- 1953
- 1975
- 1975
- 1975
- 1976
- 1979
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1984
- 1984
- 1986
- 1988
- 1995
- 1995
- 1995
- 1995
- 1997
- 1998
- 1998
- 1999
- 1999
- 1999
- 1999
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2001
- 2001
- 2006
- 2006
Final Recordings
Radio ~ Host - Guest
- Fibber McGee and Molly (1937)
- Columbia Presents Como (1943)
- The Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club (1944-1950)
- The Perry Como Chesterfield Show (1950-1955)
Television ~ Host
- The Perry Como Chesterfield Supper Club (1948-1950)
- The Perry Como Chesterfield Show (1950-1955)
- The Perry Como Show (1955-1959)
- Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall (1959-1967)
- Perry Como Comes To London (1960)
- The Perry Como Holiday Special (1967)
- Perry Como Special - In Hollywood (1968)
- Christmas At The Hollywood Palace (1969)
- The Many Moods Of Perry Como (1970)
- Perry Como - In Person (1971)
- Perry Como's Winter Show (1971)
- The Perry Como Winter Show (1972)
- Cole Porter In Paris (1973)
- The Perry Como Winter Show (1973)
- The Perry Como Sunshine Show (1974)
- Perry Como's Summer of '74 (1974)
- Perry Como's Christmas Show (1974)
- Como Country: Perry And His Nashville Friends (1975)
- Perry Como's Springtime Special (1975)
- Perry Como's Lake Tahoe Holiday (1975)
- Perry Como's Christmas In Mexico (1975)
- Perry Como's Hawaiian Holiday (1976)
- Perry Como's Spring In New Orleans (1976)
- Perry Como: Las Vegas Style (1976)
- Perry Como's Christmas In Austria (1976)
- Perry Como's Music From Hollywood (1977)
- Perry Como's Olde Englishe Christmas (1977)
- Perry Como's Easter By The Sea (1978)
- Perry Como's Early American Christmas (1978)
- Perry Como's Springtime Special (1979)
- Perry Como's Christmas In New Mexico (1979)
- Perry Como's Bahamas Holiday (1980)
- Perry Como's Christmas In The Holy Land (1980)
- Perry Como's Spring In San Francisco (1981)
- Perry Como's French-Canadian Christmas (1981)
- Perry Como's Easter In Guadalajara (1982)
- Perry Como's Christmas In Paris (1982)
- Perry Como's Christmas In New York (1983)
- Perry Como's Christmas In England (1984)
- Perry Como's Christmas In Hawaii (1985)
- The Perry Como Christmas Special (1986)
- Perry Como's Irish Christmas (1994)
Television ~ Guest - Guest Host - Cameo Appearance - Documentary
- The Frank Sinatra Show (March 10, 1951)
- The Frank Sinatra Show (October 19, 1951)
- The All-Star Revue (February 14, 1953)
- Max Leibman's Variety (January 30, 1955)
- Some Of Manie's Friends ~ Tribute To RCA/NBC Executive Manie Saks (March 3, 1959)
- The Bob Hope Show (November 18, 1956)
- The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (January 31, 1957)
- Il Musichiere (May, 1958)
- The Bing Crosby Show (February 29, 1960)
- Celebrity Golf (1960)
- The Bob Hope Show (1967)
- Laugh-In (November 25, 1968)
- Laugh-In (January 13, 1969)
- Laugh-In (March 24, 1969)
- Laugh-In (February 16, 1970)
- Jimmy Durante Presents The Lennon Sisters (February 28, 1970)
- The Doris Mary Anne Kapplehoff Special ~ The Doris Day Special (March 14, 1971)
- The Flip Wilson Show (October 6, 1971)
- Julie Andrews On Sesame Street (November 23, 1973)
- The Royal Variety Performance (November 24, 1974)
- The Barber Comes To Town (1975)
- Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl (April 26, 1977)
- Parkinson (November 26, 1977)
- Bob Hope's Christmas Show (December 1977)
- Entertainment Tonight ~ On Perry Como's 40th Anniversary With RCA Records (1983)
- The Today Show (1983)
- The Kennedy Center Honors (December 27, 1983)
- The Arlene Herson Show (June 6, 1984)
- Minneapolis TV Interview (June 19, 1984)
- Regis Philbin's Life Styles (July, 1984)
- AM Cleveland (July, 1984)
- The Kennedy Center Honors (December 6, 1987)
- Evening At Pops ~ A Tribute To Bing Crosby (August 20, 1988)
- Regis & Kathy Lee Live (October 11, 1988)
- Regis & Kathy Lee Live (July 7, 1989)
- Gala Concert For President Ronald Reagan (October 22, 1989)
- Regis & Kathy Lee Live (December 4, 1990)
- Regis & Kathy Lee Live (December 5, 1990)
- Broadcast Hall of Fame (January 7, 1991)
- Hard Copy ~ Perry Como - The King of Crooners (June 14, 1991)
- CBS - This Morning (December 20, 1991)
- National Memorial Day Concert, Washington D.C. (May 22, 1992)
- Regis & Kathy Lee Live (November 15, 1994)
Filmography - Including Shorts
- Something To Shout About (1943) ~ Possible Cameo (Not Yet Confirmed)
- Something for the Boys (1944)
- Doll Face (1945)
- March of Time (1945)
- If I'm Lucky (1946)
- Words and Music (1948)
- Tobaccoland on Parade (1950)
- The Fifth Freedom (1951)
Round and Round
Como's hit song was adapted for a Ballantine beer commercial, centering on the three rings that symbolized the product.
The original song begins this way:
- Find a wheel and it goes round, round, round
- As it skims along with a happy sound
- As it goes along the ground, ground, ground
- Till it leads you to the one you love.
The advertisement:
- Take a ring and add another ring
- And then another ring and then you've got three rings
- Ballantine and now it's premium
- It's a very special glass of beer.
See also
External links
at Find-A-Grave
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