Damone’s easy-listening romantic ballads brought him million-selling records and sustained a half-century career in recordings, movies and nightclub,…<\/b>
\nMIAMI \u2014 Vic Damone, whose mellow baritone once earned praise from Frank Sinatra as \u201cthe best pipes in the business,\u201d has died in Florida at the age of 89, his daughter said.
Victoria Damone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday that her father died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital from complications of a respiratory illness.
Damone\u2019s easy-listening romantic ballads brought him million-selling records and sustained a half-century career in recordings, movies and nightclub, concert and television appearances.
Damone\u2019s career began climbing in the 1940s after he won a tie on the radio show \u201cArthur Godfrey\u2019s Talent Hunt.\u201d His hit singles included \u201cAgain,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re Breaking My Heart,\u201d \u201cMy Heart Cries for You,\u201d \u201cOn the Street Where You Live\u201d and, in 1957, the title song of the Cary Grant film \u201cAn Affair to Remember.\u201d
Damone\u2019s style as a lounge singer remained constant through the years: straightforward, concentrated on melody and lyrics without resorting to vocal gimmicks. Like many young singers of his era, he idolized Sinatra.
\u201cI tried to mimic him,\u201d Damone said in a 1992 interview with Newsday. \u201cI decided that if I could sound like Frank maybe I did have a chance. I was singing his words, breathing his breaths, [doing] his interpretation, with the high notes, the synergy.\u201d
Sinatra and Damone, along with Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Dean Martin and others, formed a group of Italian Americans who dominated the postwar pop music field. And far from resenting the mimicry, Sinatra praised Damone\u2019s singing ability.
Born Vito Farinola in Brooklyn, New York, on June 12,1928 to immigrants from Bari, Italy, Damone dropped out of high school after his father, an electrician, was injured on the job.
Damone adopted his mother\u2019s maiden name when he began his career, after catching an early break while working as an usher at the Paramount Theater in New York City, according to a family statement.
The 14-year-old bumped into Perry Como in an elevator at the theater, stopped it between floors, and started singing. Then he asked Como whether he should continue voice lessons, and Como said simply, \u201cKeep singing!\u201d and referred him to a local bandleader.
Damone still drew crowds in nightclubs and concerts into his 70s, before illness prompted his retirement to Palm Beach with his fifth wife, fashion designer Rena Rowan.
Damone appeared in several MGM musicals and he was originally cast in \u201cThe Godfather,\u201d but the role of a budding singer seeking mob help in a Hollywood career eventually went to Al Martino.
He wrote in his memoir, \u201cSinging Was the Easy Part,\u201d that he never considered himself a showman like Milton Berle or Sammy Davis Jr.
\u201cThat wasn\u2019t my particular gift,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy gift was singing.\u201d
In 1954, Damone married the Italian actress Pier Angeli, after her mother refused to allow her to marry James Dean. The couple had a son and named him Perry before divorcing in 1959.
Marriages to actress Judy Rawlins, with whom he had three daughters, and Houston socialite Becky Ann Jones also ended in divorce. In 1987, Damone and actress-singer Diahann Carroll married after a long romance, and they paired for night club and concert tours. They divorced in 1996.
Rowan died in November 2016.
Damone is survived by two sisters, his three daughters and six grandchildren.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 4.2<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -0.3<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 113<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 22<\/div>\n

TW likes: 45<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: -10<\/div>\n<\/div>\n