This is our third album of songs sung by Perry Como and it has given us as much pleasure as the first two albums. The appeal of producing and performing these songs is the knowledge that they were sung by a man who led such an exemplary lifestyle in both his career and personal life.

 

INTRODUCTION
This is an album I have so enjoyed producing with my valued friend Tony Drake. This is our third album of songs sung by Perry Como and it has given us as much pleasure as the first two albums. The appeal of producing and performing these songs is the knowledge that they were sung by a man who led such an exemplary lifestyle in both his career and personal life. The gentleness of the man, and the joy, warmth and sincerity in the delivery of his songs are for me what makes Perry Como the easiest male voice to listen to. Perry Como was an American crooner whose  career spanned more than half a century. He  sold millions of records and also pioneered a  weekly musical variety television show which set  the standard and proved to be one of the most  successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings has never been equalled by any other artist of the time. His appeal spanned generations and he was widely respected for both his professional standards and the conduct of his personal life.

 

EARLY LIFE
Pierino Ronald Como was born in 1912 in the small mining town of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He inherited a love for music from his Italian parents. He was born the seventh son of a seventh son. Born lucky, maybe – but talent of course was to play a large part in what he was to achieve. He was the seventh of the 13 children of Pietro Como and Lucia Travaglini, who both immigrated to the US in 1900 from the 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 50c 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 graduating from high school, he opened his own barber shop – his drive for excellence began at an early age. Perry would sing to his customers, some being musicians who came to town with the touring bands. 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. Perry and Roselle remained married until her death in August 1998 at age 84. Como was reportedly devastated by her passing.

 

MUSIC CAREER

In 1933, Perry was offered a contract to tour with the Freddie Carlone band which lasted for 3 years after which he joined Ted Weems band till 1942. He went back to barbering, and it took a call from CBS with the offer of a 15 minute radio show to lure him back to his singing career. In 1943 his solo career started when he signed a recording contract for RCA for whom he recorded exclusively for more than half a century till his last commercial recording in 1987. In 1945, Perry recorded the pop ballad “Till the End of Time” which marked the beginning of a highly successful career. Perry was the first artist to have ten records sell more than one million copies. Perry had fourteen US #1 singles. His final Top 40 hit was a cover of Don McLean’s “And I Love You So”, recorded in 1973. “I Want To Give” was Perry’s last song to appear in the UK charts in 1975. Perry modelled his voice and style after Bing Crosby as most male singers of the 1930’s and 1940’s did. Perry’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”. His total record sales exceeded 50 million. Perry commonly played down his own achievements. He 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, Perry is reported to have sold millions of records, but he commonly suppressed these figures. He performed up until 1994 and his last commercial recording was in 1987, aged 75. Perry Como was aptly described by music critic Gene Lees in 1968: “Despite his immense popularity, Como is rarely given credit for what, once you stop and think of it, he so clearly is: one of the great singers and one of the great artists of our time. Perhaps the reason people rarely talk about his formidable attributes as a singer is that he makes so little fuss about them. That celebrated ease of his has been too little understood. Ease in any art is the result of mastery over the details of the craft. You get them together to the point where you can forget about how you do things and concentrate on what you are doing. Como got them together so completely that the muscles don’t even show.  It seems effortless, but a good deal of effort has gone into making it seem so. Como is known to be meticulous about rehearsal of the material for an album. He tries things out in different keys, gives the song thought, makes suggestions, tries it again, and again, until he is satisfied. The hidden work makes him look like Mr Casual, and too many people are taken in by it – but happily so. I have of necessity given a good deal of thought and study to the art of singing, and Como’s work consistently astonishes me.”

 

ACTING AND RADIO CAREER

Como was contracted to a 7 year film deal with 20th Century Fox in 1944 and appeared in a few musicals. Acting, however, was not a medium he was comfortable in. He also had a highly rated 15 minute CBS radio show, “The Chesterfield Supper Club” which ran from 1944 to 1950. Perry saw his future much more in the new medium of television.

 

TELEVISION CAREER

“Mr C”, as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records but he also pioneered a weekly musical variety television show which set the standard and proved one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings have never been equalled by any other artist of the time. His television show, The Perry Como Show, which opened in 1955, resulted in him becoming 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. His television show achieved a much higher rating than that of any other vocalist to date. Perry’s easy relaxed style made him a favourite for millions of viewers throughout the world and he developed a format that is emulated to this very day.

 

PERSONAL LIFE

Like Crosby, his Christmas albums were best-sellers, and his annual television “Christmas specials” became an integral part of the holiday season. Never one for the glitzy trappings of super stardom, Perry comes across as an ordinary guy who just happened to be blessed with a rare talent. Perry exudes all the emotions of a man truly in love and devoted to his partner. This was reflected in his personal life, not many marriages reach the 65 year mark. Perhaps it was because Perry believed in the sentiments of the songs he sang that made his delivery so real. Perry’s deeply religious beliefs shine through many of his songs. Como died quietly in his sleep in May 2001 at his home in Florida, six days before his eighty-ninth birthday. He was reported to have suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease throughout the final years of his life. References: Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopaedia, Michael Dunnington, Tony Watts, Hugh Palmer

 

Vocals: Harry Curtis • Support Vocals: Natalie Grever
Keyboard & Programming: Tony Drake