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Rosemary Clooney
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Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)" (a cover of the Italian song Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina by Alberto Rabagliati), "Mambo Italiano", and "This Ole House", songs which tended to obscure her talents as a jazz vocalist.
Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1974, when Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business.
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Encyclopedia
Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)" (a cover of the Italian song Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina by Alberto Rabagliati), "Mambo Italiano", and "This Ole House", songs which tended to obscure her talents as a jazz vocalist.
Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1974, when Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. From the late 1970s until her death in 2002, she recorded a series of albums for the Concord jazz label with small ensembles which were warmly received by audiences and critics alike.
Biography
Early life
Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, to Andrew Joseph Clooney and Frances Marie Guilfoyle, both of whom were Roman Catholics of Irish and German ancestry. Her father was an alcoholic and she and her brother and sister were constantly moving back and forth between her parents. When Rosemary was fifteen, her mother and brother, Nick, moved to California. She and her sister, Betty, remained with their father.
Rosemary, Betty and Nick all became entertainers. In the next generation, some of her own children, including Miguel and Rafael, and her nephew, George Clooney, also became respected entertainers. In 1945, the Clooney sisters won a spot on Cincinnati's radio station WLW as singers. Her sister Betty sang in a duo with Rosemary for much of her early career.
Career
Clooney's first recordings, in May 1946, were for Columbia Records. She sang with Tony Pastor's big band. Clooney continued working with the Pastor band until 1949, making her last recording with the band in May of that year and her first as a solo artist a month later, still for Columbia.
In 1951, her record of "Come On-a My House" became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts—despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She had been told by Columbia to record the song, and that she would be in violation of her contract if she did not do so.
Around 1952, Rosemary recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich.
In 1954, she, along with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Vera-Ellen, starred in the movie White Christmas. In later years, Clooney would often appear with Crosby on television, such as in the 1957 special The Edsel Show, and the two friends made a concert tour of Ireland together. Crosby opined that Clooney was "the best in the business." In 1960, she and Crosby co-starred in a 20-minute CBS radio show that went to air before the midday news every weekday.
In 1956, she starred in a half hour syndicated television musical variety show The Rosemary Clooney Show. The show featured The Hi-Lo's singing group and Nelson Riddle's orchestra. The following year, the show moved to NBC prime time as The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney but only lasted one season. The new show featured the The Modernaires singing group and Frank DeVol's orchestra.
In 1958, Clooney left Columbia, doing a number of recordings for MGM Records and then some for Coral Records. Finally, toward the end of 1958, she signed with RCA Victor Records, where she stayed until 1963. In 1964, she went to Reprise Records, and in 1965 to Dot Records. In 1966, she went to United Artists Records.
Beginning in 1977, she recorded an album a year for Concord Records, which continued until her death. This made her something of an anomaly, because most of her generation of singers had long since stopped recording regularly by then.
In the late-1970s and early-1980s, Clooney was also a pitch-person for Coronet paper towels, for which she sang a memorable jingle that goes, "Extra value is what you get, when you buy Coro-net." Jim Belushi later parodied Clooney and the commercial while as a cast member for NBC's Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s. She sang a duet with Wild Man Fischer on "It's a Hard Business" in 1986.
In 1994, Clooney guest starred in the NBC medical drama ER (starring her nephew George), for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award.
In 1999, Clooney founded the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, held annually in her hometown of Maysville, Kentucky. She performed at the festival every year until her death. Proceeds benefit the restoration of the Russell Theater in Maysville, where Clooney's first film, The Stars are Singing, premiered in 1953.
Clooney received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.
Personal life
Clooney suffered for much of her life from bipolar disorder.
Clooney was married twice to José Ferrer, from 1953 until 1961 and again from 1964 to 1967. They had five children: Miguel Ferrer (b. 1955), Maria (b. 1956), Gabriel Ferrer (b. 1957), who married Debby Boone, Monsita (b. 1958), and Rafael Ferrer, (b. 1960). In 1968, her relationship with a young drummer ended after two years, and she became increasingly dependent on pills after a punishing tour. She joined the presidential campaign of close friend Bobby Kennedy, and was in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968. A month later she had a nervous breakdown onstage in Reno, Nevada, and was hospitalised. She remained in therapy for eight years afterwards.
In 1980, she purchased a second home on Riverside Drive in Augusta, Kentucky, near her childhood hometown of Maysville. Today, it houses collections of her personal items and memorabilia from many of her films and singing performances.
She married Dante DiPaolo in 1997.
A longtime smoker, Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2001. Around this time, she gave her last concert, in Hawaii, backed by the Honolulu Symphony Pops; her last song was "God Bless America". Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29, 2002, at her home in Beverly Hills, California. George Clooney served as a pall bearer at her funeral, which was attended by numerous stars including Al Pacino. Clooney is buried at Saint Patrick's Cemetery, in Maysville.
Best-known songs
Filmography
See also
External links
- Allmusic site
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- at Findagrave.com
- (in Augusta, Kentucky, where she maintained a home)
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