1951 Shades of Love

Clockwise: Mario Lanza, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Les Paul & Mary Ford, and Tony Bennett.

While thinking of what to post about this evening, I am not sure what moved me, but I did a search on songs by Nat King Cole, and came up with his #1 hit of 1951, and decided to go with that year in music. Once I looked it up, I saw the Top five songs all had a different sound, they all focused on love, and had amazing singers. The #5 song of the year was from an American-born son of Italian immigrants, Alfred Arnold Cocozza. Well, that was his birth name, but you might know him better as movie and recording star Mario Lanza. In 1950, he starred in the film 'The Toast of New Orleans' with Kathryn Grayson, David Niven, J. Carrol Naish, James Mitchell and a young Rita Moreno. The film featured the song "Be My Love", which went on to be released as a single and become Lanza's first million-selling song. It spent 1 week at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and ended up the fifth best-selling song of 1951. This is Mario Lanza singing "Be My Love".

Rosemary Clooney grew up in a family of entertainers. In fact, Rosemary and her sister Betty sang together, starting their careers together. Brother Nick Clooney was an army DJ, and later settled back home in Ohio as a television journalist. Nick started his own family, which included his son, George Clooney. In 1946, Rosemary went out on her own, and was the singer with Tony Pastor's band. At the beginning of 1951, she recorded her first of many hit songs, when she recorded a song written by Ross Bagdasarian and writer William Saroyan, "Come On-a My House". Despite the song spending 6 weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, Rosie later admitted she never liked the song, but would be singing it for the rest of her career. I have to admit, I love the song! This is Rosemary Clooney singing "Come On-a My House".

Our next song comes from a husband and wife team who not only saw great success in the 1950s, their names became synonymous with great music. Mary Ford was introduced to Les Paul by 'cowboy' Gene Autry, and the two married in 1949. They began making music together, and from 1950 to 1954, the couple had 16 songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard charts. That list would included "How High The Moon", a song with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. The song, from the 1940 Broadway musical 'Two For The Show', spent 9 weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The couple had great success through the 1950s, but it took a toll on the marriage, and they divorced in 1963, ending the partnership. Paul was not only a great musician, but also an outstanding luthier, making some of the great guitars out there. He also developed the prototype for the electric guitar still used today. But in 1950s, he was better known as part of a great duo. This is Les Paul and Mary Ford performing "How High The Moon".

The sun must have been shining just right on the new entertainers, for in the #2 spot for the year, we have another singer with their first solo hit with Anthony Dominick Benedetto. As a young 13-year-old, Benedetto worked as a singing waiter in Queens, his first step on the way to a professional career in music. After a stint in the army, Benedetto tried to make music his profession, but met little success, until singer Pearl Bailey invited him to open for her in New York. There he was seen by Bob Hope, who asked him to join him on tour, and soon the singer became a household name. But not as Anthony Benedetto. Who is that, you might ask? Anthony is better known as Tony Bennett, one of the greatest male singers of Jazz for the last century. In 1952, Bennett had his first big hit, when "Because of You" spent 8 weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song, written by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson in 1940, became a Jazz standard, as well as launched a career that is still going strong. This is Tony Bennett singing "Because of You".

Nathaniel Adams Coles was born the son of a Baptist minister. He learned to play organ from his mother, before starting real lessons at the age of 12. After moving to Los Angeles in 1930s, he formed a group with a slight variation on his name. Soon, the Nat King Cole Trio was playing all over LA, and the man was making a name for himself. In 1943, the group was signed to Capitol Records. He was the first to top a guitarist and bassist with his piano to form a trio, and soon that would be considered the norm for Jazz trios. While this song was not his first hit, "Too Young" was certainly one fo the biggest for him, spending five weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song, written by Sidney Lippman, the lyrics by Sylvia Dee, was recorded by many, including Donny Osmond in 1972. But no one could match the success with the song that Nat King Cole did in 1951. With the top-selling song of the year, here is Nat King Cole singing "Too Young".

Have a great weekend!

Crooners From the Heart

Clockwise: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin.

To change things up a bit, I decided to visit the the Great American Songbook as I do on a Saturday night, but from a slightly different perspective. Since I usual feature some of the amazingly talented ladies from the past century or so, I decided to listen to some men this week. While there are countless men who have sung great music, I decided to go with some of the voices I heard playing on the family record player when I was young. And, as a child of parents from the Philadelphia area, there was no way I could not include Francis Albert Sinatra, for my mother did love his music. Frank Sinatra started his career as part of the group Hoboken Four. The group was on Major Bowes Amateur Hour, the nationally broadcast radio talent show. Soon he left that group, and returned home to New Jersey. Eventually, he made his way as a big band singer, fronting for both Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. He soon moved on to a solo career, starting out the 1940s at the top, a favorite of the bobbysoxers across the nation. He became a movie star, and maintained his recording career for decades to come. In 1964, he released "The Way You Look Tonight", a song written by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern. Originally sung by Ginger Rogers to Fred Astaire in the 1936 RKO Radio Pictures musical, 'Swing Time', the song was soon recorded by Bing Crosby and Billie Holiday, quickly becoming a standard. This is Frank Sinatra's recording of "The Way You Look Tonight".

While he was another member of the the famed 'Rat Pack', Sammy Davis Jr. had a long and full career in show business. He started in vaudeville while still a toddler, perfecting his skills as a song and dance man. He served his country during World War II, and returned to vaudeville afterwards. His talent made him a shining star, and soon he would be a recording star. In the 1950s, he made the jump to movie actor, and then to Broadway star. By the end of the decade, he made close friends with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, soon to be dubbed the Rat Pack. They made movies, and played shows together in Las Vegas, never disappointing the audience. In 1962, a song was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and was introduced by Newley in the musical 'Stop The World - I Want To Get Off'. "What Kind of Fool Am I?" was an iconic song, and was quickly recorded by Newley and Tony Bennett. It was also recorded by Sammy, who had a hit with the song, going to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #6 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart. The song won the 1963 Grammy for Song of the Year, on the strength of Davis' recording. It is easy to understand why it was so successful when you listen to it. This is Sammy Davis Jr. singing "What Kind of Fool Am I?".

I remember my mother having Dean Martin albums, when the man was known as 'The King of Cool', his dashing good looks and easy manner projecting a self-confidence that was unmistakeable. Often seen surrounded by beautiful young ladies, with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, Martin was just the man you wanted to watch. Whether he was teaming up with Jerry Lewis making comedy, or recording music, Martin was never far from the spotlight. In 1956 he released the single "Sway", a mambo written by Mexican composer Luis Demetrio, and English lyrics by Norman Gimbel. Dean's version went to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, and to #6 on the UK Singles chart. The song managed to be both sexy and romantic, and a song for the ages. I do enjoy hearing Dean Martin sing "Sway".

When you think back on the career of Nat King Cole, he was rather impressive. Cole was performing in the jazz clubs of Chicago in the 1930s, and soon his trio was being heard on radio, increasing his popularity. It wasn't too long before his music was being heard on television, and he was having mainstream success with songs like "Straighten Up and Sly Right". By the mid-40s, he was recording Pop music, and was a very popular performer. So popular, in fact, he had his own show, 'The Nat King Cole Show', on NBC. He was the first African American to host a national broadcast. The show lasted just over a year, unable to find a national sponsor. While the ratings were pretty good, it seemed as though advertisers stayed away. About the same time, the musical tastes changed, as Rock 'N Roll was taking over the charts, leaving crooners like Cole, Martin, and Sinatra to struggle for airplay. It didn't stop Cole, for he had hits like "Ramblin' Rose" and "Let There Be Love". In fact, I love his version of the latter song, composed by Lionel Rand with lyrics by Ian Grant. The song, written in 1940, was given new life by his Jazzy interpretation, that managed to be both flirty and smart. I certainly hope you love Nat King Cole singing "Let There Be Love" as much as I do!

Have a great weekend!

Billboard Top 5 • Margie's Birthday!

Clockwise:Nat King Cole; Tony Bennett; Rosemary Clooney; Mario Lanza; and Les Paul & Mary Ford.

Well, yesterday was my cousin Margie's birthday, so I asked her to name the year, and I would do a post for her. She picked 1951, which is kinda exciting, as I hadn't covered it before! So, before I go any further, I thought I would give everyone a chance to meet my cousin, pictured below to the left of Eric Himan (and her sister Eileen on the right) from a show she went with me in January at the World Cafe Live! in Philadelphia, also featuring Levi Kreis and Jason Antone.



The first clip of the post will be the #5 song from 1951 according to the Billboard chart. The song is Be My Love, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Nicholas Brodzsky. The song first appeared in the 1950 movie The Toast of New Orleans, where it was sung by Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza. It was recorded by Lanza, and the following year made it to #1 on the chart. Like my beautiful cousin, Lanza was a Philadelphia native. Here is the version of the classically-trained tenor.



It is nigh-on impossible to resist Rosemary Clooney's cute and flirty recording of Come On-A My House. The song, written by Ross Bagdasarian and writer William Saroyan, was written in 1939, but was largely ignored until recorded by Clooney. There are reports that Rosemary did not like the song, which became a trademark of the singer.



The #3 song on the year-end chart belonged to the husband/wife team of Les Paul & Mary Ford, introduced by legendary Hollywood 'cowboy' Gene Autry. 1951 was a huge year for the pair, who sold over 5 million records, and had How High The Moon on top of the Pop chart for 9 weeks. The jazz standard was written in for the 1940 Broadway show, Two For The Show, with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton and music by Morgan Lewis. The duo combined the Jazz and Rock sound to give their own unique sound to the music they performed. Les Paul was a real innovator, manufacturing guitars that carried his name, as well as maintaining a strong career as a performer. Here is their song, How High The Moon.



The #2 song for the year was sung by the great American crooner, Tony Bennett. Because of You was written by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson in 1940. It was Bennett's first #1 song, and it stayed atop the chart for 10 weeks, and sold over a million copies. Later, Bennett rerecorded the song for the 2006 album Duets: An American Classic. He sang it with the glorious voice of kd lang. The song also featured a beautiful trumpet solo by Chris Botti.



And finally, the #1 song for the year 1951 was recorded by the astounding Nat King Cole. Written by Sidney Lippman with lyrics by Sylvia Dee, Too Young went to #1 on the Billboard chart, and stayed there for five consecutive weeks. There were plenty of other versions of the song, including one by the King of Pop while still a member of the Jackson 5, and by Donny Osmond in 1972 on the Here's Lucy show.



So, it only seems appropriate that I end this tribute to my cousin Margie with the song Too Young, for it age is just a number, and the real age a matter for the mind, then Margie is indeed still far too young to remember any of these songs. So I will continue to celebrate Margie, including this photograph I took in her South Philly kitchen, with my sister Kathy and my niece, Mandy.

Celebrating Daddies

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there. To all of you, I dedicate Eartha Kitt's My Heart Belongs To Daddy.



Hugz 'N Kisses, Daddies...

Billboard Top Holiday Songs - #5

To continue with the Christmas celebrations, here is Nat King Cole taking the #5 spot on the chart with The Christmas Song. He released this version of the song in 1946. It is an immortal song written by Mel Tormé and Bob Wells in 1944.

Visit Christopher Dallman for the Holidays

With his striking good looks, a beautiful voice that can sound both strong and willful as well as haunted and hurt, out singer/songwriter Christopher Dallman became part of my music library on a lark, and for that I will be forever grateful. I was ordering a CD from CD Baby a few years ago, and decided I was getting boring, so I picked a couple of others I wasn't too familiar with, and hoped for the best. The fates were being very kind to me that day, as one of those CDs was called Race The Light, and from the first listen, it became a favorite. So I did some research on the web, and found out a little more about the artist, Christopher Dallman. I also wrote him a note on MySpace, thanking him for the music that I loved. He wrote a gracious reply, and I have been following him since.

After a bit of a respite, Dallman came back on the music scene with a bang, releasing Anthem, a marriage equality single, Sad Britney and Never Was in 2009, and Live in LA in 2010. He is also looking to release more music in the beginning of 2011. All of this makes fans like myself quite happy, cause you can never have enough Chris in your life. But, if it weren't for the great music from Race The Light, I am not sure I would have been following Christopher as closely, and know his music now. So I will be grateful for songs like Mistake.



I love that song, like so many others in Christopher's catalog, so of course I wanted to include him in the holiday series. And I was quite pleased he took the time out of his busy schedule to be a part of holidays on Soundtrack to my Day. So I started off my asking about his own favorite holiday music. "I like the classic holiday music like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole," he replied. "It makes me feel like a kid at Christmas." Well, I can't argue with that one at all, and only hope to encourage it with a clip of the amazing Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song.



So I wanted to nkow if Christopher had any favorite holiday song he liked to perform live? "I like doing Joni Mitchell's River," he answered, "and my own version of Silent Night. Sad versions, of course." Apparently, sad isn't a word he just associates with Britney. But I have to admit to being intrigued about hearing Dallman performing the Joni Mitchell song. Watch this, and tell me if you you aren't dying to hear Chris sing River, too.



So, Chris Dallman, what are your hopes for the New Year? "I hope my family and friends stay safe and healthy," he said warmly. "And I hope to drink a lot of really nice wine."

Well, while it might be slightly out of sequence, I thought I would slip in another holiday classic, with Bing Crosby singing White Christmas for Mr. Dallman.



Time for my preoccupation with the listening habits of people who are on my iPod. I wanted to know what was his favorite music from 2010. "My favorite music of 2010 is Lissie. She has been around for a while," he explained, "but she blew up this year. I love her album, I love her EP, I love her live show, and I love the song she did with George Stanford on his record Roll Away."

What is Chris looking forward to musically in 2011, since it is so close now? "I'm releasing a new music video for Gimme More from Sad Britney in January," he explained, "followed by a new record produced by George Stanford, and then a short (but hopefully not too short!) US tour. It's going to be a good year."

Now, the idea of Christopher appearing near me on tour soon is enough to make me a happy camper. Near giddy, as a matter of fact. While he may be planning on playing the new music, I also hope he makes time for favorites old and new. One of those is the last video he released for the song Ghosts from Never Was.



For more about Christopher Dallman's music, check out his official website here. You can check in there to find out the latest new on releases and upcoming tour dates. You can also buy some really great music.

Christmas Music - Nat King Cole

Hearing the soft and warm baritone of Nat King Cole at the beginning of any song pretty much says it is gonna be good. Hearing the opening bars of The Christmas Song, and you can't help but think of him. His amazing grasp on combining jazz and American pop made him a leader in the recording industry for decades.

The Christmas Song


O Holy Night