| Singing the praises of Vic Damone, recording and MGM star, who has passed away at 89 | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 05:26 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 05:21 pm EST 02/12/18 | |
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| Vic Damone, whom Frank Sinatra once raved, ''has the best pipes in the business,'' died Sunday at age 89 in Miami Beach. Damone, born Vito Farinola in Brooklyn, starred in 1950s MGM musicals, such as ''Hit the Deck'' and ''Athena'' (with Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds), and played the Caliph in ''Kismet,'' with Howard Keel and Dolores Gray. But it was his recording career from the late '40s through the '60s, which included ''You're Breaking My Heart'' and ''An Affair to Remember,'' that earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1946, Sinatra was listening to the radio at a friend's Manhattan apartment. Suddenly, he heard one of his hits, ''Night and Day,'' and was astonished to find out it was being sung by Vic Damone, live in the studio. Sinatra called the station and told Damone: ''I am Frank Sinatra, and I want you to stop singing my songs.'' Damone, thinking he was being pranked, said: ''Yeah, if you're Frank Sinatra, I'm the Pope.'' Months later, Sinatra would introduce Damone at Madison Square Garden and say: ''This kid's a really great singer. He's got stardust on his shoulders.'' In 1995, I got to see Damone, then 67, headline at Rainbow & Stars, above Rockefeller Center, and he still sounded great. He told a story about how he had to choose between recording one of two songs from ''My Fair Lady.'' One of them was ''I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face,'' but the one he picked became one of his biggest hits ever: ''On the Street Where You Live.'' At the time of Rainbow & Stars, I was covering cabaret for the N.Y. Daily News, so I gave him a glowing review. Much to my surprise, he phoned the News and thanked me for what I wrote. What a class act! |
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| Link | Vic Damone: 'On the Street Where You Live' |
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