June 12: Vic Damone is 85-years-old today.

 

 

 

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Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York , where his mother taught piano. Inspired by his favorite singer, Frank Sinatra, Damone began taking voice lessons. He sang in the choir at St. Finbar's Church in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, for Sunday Mass under organist Anthony Amorello.

When his father was injured at work, Damone had to drop out of high school. He worked as an usher and elevator operator in the Paramount Theater in Manhattan where he met Perry Como. Vic stopped the elevator between floors, sang for him and asked his advice if he should continue voice lessons. Impressed, Como said, "Keep singing!" and referred him to a local bandleader.

Vito decided to call himself Vic Damone, using his mother's maiden name. Damone entered the talent search on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and won in April 1947. This led to his becoming a regular on Godfrey's show. By mid 1947, Damone had signed a contract with Mercury Records. His first release, "I Have But One Heart", reached #7 on the Billboard chart. "You Do" (released November 1) reached the same peak. These were followed by a number of other hits.

In 1948 he got his own weekly radio show, Saturday Night Serenade. In 1951, Damone appeared in two movies: The Strip and Rich, Young and Pretty. From 1951 to 1953 he served in the United States Army, but before going into the service he recorded a number of songs which were released during that time.

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He has recorded over 2,000 songs over his entire career. His final album was issued in 2002, with other albums being re-packaged and re-released.

He has garnered new fans following the launch of the Vic Damone website in 2002 www.vicdamone.com, managed by his son-in-law William "Bill" Karant.

In Brett Ratner's movie Money Talks, Chris Tucker's character sees a commercial about Vic Damone and then pretends to be Damone's son.

On June 12, 2009, Vic Damone released his autobiography titled Singing Was the Easy Part from St. Martin's Press.

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For more about Vic Damone, visit his Website at -

http://www.vicdamone.com/

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