PERRY COMOPerry Como, who died on 12 May, 2001, wasone of the most successful of the “crooners” who emerged from the 1940s. Bing Crosby called him “the man who invented casual”.Mr Como, known as Mr Nice Guy and with his trademark cardigan, had 42 top 10hits in the charts between 1944 and 1958. Songs from that included Till the End of Time, If I Loved You, Temptationand Dig You Later.His early success projected him into films,radio and television, where he enjoyed fantastic success in the United States and Britain.Even in the 1970s he remained popular withthe hits It’s Impossibleand And I Love You So. Catch a Falling Star,one of his biggest-selling records — for whichhe won a Grammy in 1958 — enjoyed a revival as the soundtrack of the 1993 film A Perfect World.Pierino Como was born on 18 May, 1912, in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania,the seventh of the 13 children of Italian immigrants, Lucia and Pietro. He grewup to run a barber shop business in his hometown and was particularlyinterested in barber shop singing.On 31 July, 1933, he married his childhoodsweetheart, Roselle Bellini. Shortly afterwards, heSuccessfully auditioned for the FreddyCarlone Band and gave up his barber shop to go into singing full-time. Threeyears later he joined the Ted Weems Band and his laid-back style developed underthe influence of Bing Crosby.Mr Como remained with Weems until 1942, but he also appeared with theDorseys, Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. When the Goodman band broke up in 1942 Mr Como wanted toreturn to Cannonsburg. Touring was unsettling and he missed his family.Instead he was offered his own radioprogramme and a salary of $100 a week. The next year he signed a recordingcontract with RCA Victor and toured clubs and theatres as a solo artist.Breakthrough came in 1943 when the “singercraze” hit New York. Mr Como was booked into the Versailles and Copacabana nightclubs, wherehis performances went down a storm — and he recorded his first hit record, Long Ago and Far Away, from the musical Cover Girl.From 1944-50 he had his own radioprogramme, The Chesterfield Supper Club, which later was simultaneously airedon television. TV made him a greater star. Between 1955 and 1963 he introduced The Perry Como Show — Saturday Nightsfor NBC-TV.In March 1959 he won a huge sponsorshipdeal to present Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall and the show helped him recordhis biggest sales with Hot Diggity, More, and, most famously, Catch a Falling Star. Its follow-up, Magic Moments, composed by BurtBacharach, topped the charts in Britain.The crooners, though, had had their day andpop and rock ruled. Mr Como cut back on his live appearances — except his Christmas show which became andAmerican institution — but still managed to sell records. A double album of hisgreatest hits sold a million copies in 1975.He continued to make short tours, makingrecords, television and charity appearances in between fishing and rounds ofgolf — sometimes with the boxer Rocky Marciano as a partner.Above all he liked to relax with hisfamily. He was a committed family man — he had three children and remainedmarried to Roselle for 65 years.His Mr Nice Guy image sometimes, however,irritated him and when one journalist once questioned him about his easymanner, he replied, “I’m not relaxed, I’m just tired!”
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