WITH
A SONG IN MY HEART
Perry
Como was born on May 18th 1912 in the steel town of Canonsburg,
Pennsylvania, and first worked in a barber shop at the age of
12. Como then left the barber job to sing with big bands, first
with Freddie Carlone, and later, in 1935 with the Ted Weems
Orchestra. When the orchestra broke up in 1942, Como signed
a recording contract with RCA, with whom he was to top the charts
with "'Till The End Of Time" in 1945.
Como helped pioneer variety shows on the new medium of television
in the 1950s and performed on television specials during the
past four decades. His television career spanned 20 years. He
had 14 singles that made it to No. 1 and sold more than 100
million albums. He had more than 20 gold records in his career,
and was probably best known for the tune "And I Love You So."
In 1958, Como won a Grammy Award as best male singer for the
hit "Catch a Falling Star."
While Como emulated singer Bing Crosby in his early years, some
of his best-known numbers were light novelty songs like "Hot
Diggity" and "Papa Loves Mambo."
During most of the sixties, Como was in semi retirement, but
was tempted back out onto the road in the 70's on a fairly extensive
world tour. This increased exposure also led to his first hit
singles for over a decade with "It's Impossible", "For The Good
Times" and "I Love You So"
According to some sources, Como had sold in excess of 100 million
albums by the eighties, and once again, retired from the business,
releasing just a couple of compilations over the next decade
or so. Unfortunately, on 12 May 2001, 6 days before his 89th
birthday, Perry Como died peacefully in his sleep at his home.
