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Vic Damone
As a general rule, it’s wise not to expect modesty from a celebrity autobiography, but there it is, right up front in Vic Damone’s book Singing Was the Easy Part:
“I … did not feel comfortable with what show business expected of me. I was not given a special talent as a show person. I’m thinking of people like Milton Berle, or Sammy Davis or Jerry Lewis … all consummate showmen. I never thought of myself that way. That wasn’t my particular gift.
“My gift was singing.”
Singing Was the Easy Part is as much a proclamation that these are Vic Damone’s good years as it is a reminiscence of his years as a celebrity.
Damone, 81, and his wife, Rena Rowan Damone, the co-founder of the women’s apparel line Jones New York, have been married for 11 years and residents of Palm Beach for most of that time. Ensconced in a stunning, completely redone Maurice Fatio house, the atmosphere around Damone is tranquil, especially when compared with his past.
Damone’s book, co-written with David Chanoff, is a benign, breezy read about mobsters, wives, bankruptcy and friends named Sinatra and Como, among many others. He emerges from the pages as a nice guy without an instinct for the jugular, but one who sustained a lengthy career based on the fact that he was a supremely lyrical singer of romantic ballads.
“I couldn’t have been that young,” Damone says, looking at his face from nearly 50 years ago. He’s looking at an NBC show called The Lively Ones that he hosted in the early 1960s. On the screen, he’s singing April in Paris in an achingly sweet arrangement that reminds you why Frank Sinatra once said that Damone “had the best pipes in the business.”
“When I was a kid, I was hypnotized by Sinatra. I felt that what he was doing was right for me. My voice fit his voice. He didn’t just stand there and sing. He told a story, had his voice fit the story. He tried to interpret the lyrics in a way that they made dramatic sense, and emotional sense.”
In one sense, it all began in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, where he was born in 1928. In another, deeper, sense, it began at the Paramount Theater in New York, where, he says, “I got my musical education.”
Young Vito Farinola – Damone is his mother’s maiden name – worked at the Paramount as an usher. He watched the bands and the singers come and go, saw the rhythm and the lighting blend with the music and the voice.
Damone was singing professionally shortly after his voice changed, and by 17 was making good money. He had his first hit record at 19, and they kept coming: You’re Breaking My Heart, I Have But One Heart, (the song Al Martino croons in The Godfather), On the Street Where You Live, An Affair to Remember, Ebb Tide.
He went to work at MGM in 1951, earning $2,500 a week every week, for making one or two movies a year, including Hit the Deck and Deep in My Heart, which aren’t well-remembered, and Kismet, which is.
“I enjoyed MGM. I was single, the starlets were great, I had a lot of fun. Janie Powell was there, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds. But I’m a Brooklyn guy. I didn’t go to a lot of parties. I played a lot of golf. I’d rather do that, and have a good Italian meal. My pals were guys like Dean Martin and (choreographer) Nick Castle.”
Turmoil in his marriages
In 1954, he met and married the beautiful, fawnlike actress Pier Angeli, who was coming off a relationship with James Dean. The marriage produced a son, Perry (named after his pal Como), followed by an ugly divorce and custody battle. Angeli eventually remarried, and committed suicide in 1971.
There were four more marriages (most famously to Diahann Carroll), three more divorces, a bankruptcy. Through it all, Damone kept singing, but, as the title of his book implies, he is a man who has had a lot more problems in his life than in his art.
“I think I believed in people – that they would try to be honest, try to be fair, try to do a good day’s work. But people aren’t always like that. I got to the point where I didn’t trust people. I got disenchanted. Today, I can honestly say that I love music, but I don’t like show business.”
What kept him going was just that – the music, and a few other guys that felt about it the same way he did. Namely, Frank Sinatra.
“I really got to know Frank in the ’60s and ’70s in Vegas. In talking about singing, he would always stress the importance of emotional memory – find something in your own life that fits the mood of the song.”
Appropriately enough, Damone was offered the part of Johnny Fontane in The Godfather, which was transparently based on urban legends about Sinatra, and he was thinking of doing it. When Damone asked his friend about the movie, Sinatra told Damone to make up his own mind. The fact that Sinatra didn’t say it would make him angry served as a green light, but Paramount was offering only $1,100 a week with no expense account. Damone could make far more than that on the nightclub circuit, and this was a period when he needed the money. He turned the job down; Al Martino didn’t. On occasion, he still wonders about how he would have played the part.
Damone’s musical gods are the same as they used to be: mainly, Gershwin and Cole Porter. Elegant musical lines, elegant lyrics. “Certain songs, I can’t learn. For instance, What Now, My Love. It’s repetitive, it goes up and down without seeming to have a reason; there’s something about that lyric that I can’t sing.”
When the musical tide went out in the ’60s and ’70s, such peers as Tony Bennett and even Sinatra went through some rough times, but Damone didn’t seem to mind much. “I worked. I sang. Gershwin, Porter, Jule Styne. Nobody told me what to sing.”
On balance, he seems to have respected Sinatra, but he loved Dean Martin. “Dean was the best. He had such charisma on stage. Everybody thinks Dean’s singing model was Crosby. No. It was Harry Mills of the Mills Brothers. That’s who he sang like, and that’s who he idolized.
“One time Dean and I were playing golf with a couple of other guys. They were cheating. I saw it and pointed it out to Dean.
“”They’re cheating,’ I said.
“”I know.’
“”How can you play with them if you know they’re cheating?’
“”It’s OK. After this, we’re playing gin.’ And then I remembered that Dean had started out as a dealer and could make a deck of cards sit up and dance if he wanted to. One way or another, Dean was going to make the money back.”
On Angeli and Carroll
Singing Was the Easy Part is a fairly chaste book, without a lot of kissing and telling. He goes very easy, for instance, on his ex-wives – even Diahann Carroll, who was much less polite about him last year in her memoirs. Mainly, he still seems bruised by the infidelity of Pier Angeli. Tellingly, there is no photo of her in the book.
“She wasn’t as honest with me as she should have been. She wasn’t the pure, innocent woman I thought she was. I didn’t think she deserved to be in the book. But the only marriage I regret is Diahann. I respect her professionally, but her priorities were not mine. Her priorities were show business, pure and simple.”
He seems at least as proud of his seven holes-in-one as he is of his singing career; as he puts it, “instead of hitting guys, I hit golf balls.” He’s also proud of his son, three daughters, and six grandchildren, and the fact that the marriage to Rena has turned out to be the keeper.
Damone had a stroke seven years ago, although there is no sign of it today, and last year had another health scare. Sustaining him through all that, and many of the other tough times has been the Baha’i faith. What did Baha’i give him that Catholicism didn’t?
“I was an altar boy at St. Finbar’s on Benson Avenue, and I had great priests that took us to Coney Island. No funny stuff; they were good priests. But I never learned about myself as God’s creature, about my reasons for living, about putting my life in balance. That’s what the Baha’i faith did for me.
“You know, I never wanted to be a superstar. The entourage, four or five guys walking everywhere with me. None of that. I just wanted to pack up the bag, go to the airport and go do my job. I was happy with what I was doing.”
And yes, he still can sing. Discussing this composer or that song, he’ll occasionally burst out in a few bars, and the volume, as well as the quality, of sound, is remarkable – for a 41-year-old man, let alone an 81-year-old man. There’s nothing wrong with this man’s lungs, throat, or heart.
“Do I miss singing? Yes. And if I ever sing again, it will be at the Kravis right here in Palm Beach. For the rest of it, I just don’t want to travel any more.
“Jeez, I just sing. What’s the story?”
Just a guy from Bensonhurst – with a special gift.
Thank you so much for a wonderful and honest heartfelt review of my father’s book. I just finished it and thought it was wonderful. I will tell you that my father is first class all the way and took the high road when putting his life out there for all to read.
God bless you!
Perry Damone
Hi Perry,
Many years ago your dad sang at an event at the Cocoanut Grove in the old Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Bill Sears was speaking on the program that same night. I was also a friend of Sidney Bulkin who introduced your dad to the Baha’i Faith. I vividly recall that night, and your dad’s great voice. I would also add that he uses it so well speaking about the Baha’i Faith too. Thanks for sharing this email and the information about the book. I look forward to reading it myself. Take care.
Dr. Fred
Thank you for this wonderful article on Vic. I have been a fan of Vic’s since I was a teenager – in fact, Vic acknowledges me in his book as his #1 fan, a title I appreciate by him and I am honored and proud to have it. I read the book – it is fantastic – am now reading it the second time. Nice to see your comment here, Perry!
Ann Titus
He, Vic:–You are right up there with Sinatra, Jack Jones, Mark Murphy, Steve Lawrence, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Bobby Darin as my favorite singers. You definitely had the GREATEST PIPES of all of them, make no mistake. And one of my favorite albums is one you did on Columbia around 1958 with Terry Gibbs (I’m guessing) on vibes, etc. (Robeft Farnon, the conductor)–very 50′s jazzy, just INCREDIBLE singing; It featured a sensational version of “AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’” with a great vibes solo, too—was it ever re-issued as a cd?
Anyway, all the best!! And great to know you’re alive and kickin’, & please PLEASE re-consider appearing @ maybe the SUNCOAST in Las Vegas or one of the other venues there—you’d PACK THE PLACE OUT!!
Finally, what’s your take on the singing of JACK JONES?–for my money, he’s the ONLY ONE who comes close to the quality of singing you displayed at your vocal heights. GOD BLESS, VIC, AND MANY MORE YEARS—-all the best, MARK MITCHELL (also a singer, but not even close to your incredible vocal gifts)
Hi Vic,
I’m a singer too. About 40 years ago I was in New York city for an audition. I popped in Jilly’s one afternoon and played the juke box. The song was” How did she look”. It was beautifull! I must have played it 20 times. the bartender must have thought I was nuts. Do you recall what album that song was on?
You Knocked me out at the Italian American club in Brooklyn,the Garden State Arts Center, of course Vegas, and The Rainbow Grill and you sang “Feelings”. Wow!!!
That night after your show I went to the Stage Deli. You and your wifr at the time were at the next table. We chatted you told me you were doing a album in Nasville. Thanks for the great memories, and Vic, don’t ever stop singing
Sincerely,
Jack Cain
Vic Damone has been, and will always be, my favorite singer. He is not a crooner — you have Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and many others for that. I would call Vic’s voice as the quintessential musical theater voice, so flexible and powerful and musical he can sing light opera, soul-wrenching ballads, and the in-betweens (like West Side Story’s “Something’s Comin’). His voice production is correct, his delivery of the lyrics incomparable. Not even Frank Sinatra, who inspired him, has the logical accuracy of his phrasing. When he turns on his “bedroom voice,” who else would anyone want to sing a lullaby or a serenade. When I was directing musicals which my community theater company, Green Room Players, performed in Massachusetts, I was asked if I would ever produce “My Fair Lady.” My answer was (and would be to this day), “Only if I can find a Freddie who can sing “On the Street Where You Live” like Vic Damone. “How About West Side Story?” they continue. My answer: “Only if I can find a Tony who can sing “Maria” the way Vic Damone does.” Vic Damone’s singing is my standard for these, as well as for the songs in “Kismet.” Frank Sinatra was right and I agree with him 100% –”Vic Damone, the best pipes in the business.”
I just finished the book. I am also 82 and listen to Frank on my windup portable phonograph. I do not inmitate but like you from the school of Sinatra. You recorded a 78 rpm song Tell Me A Story that has been on of my favorites, so simple, so pure. In the book regarding Battle of the Baritones that Frank sang I Can’t Get Started With you. This was a record program Frank did not record it until the fifties but I have the Mercury cd and the liner notes claim it was A Ghost of A Chance. Just a little thing i had to check. I enjoyed the book very much and all the wonderful recordings. All the RCA Victor records are beautiful I Never Go There Anymore) Thanks again Vic Damone
I studied @ the Berklee School of Music many moons ago. My voice teacher was a perfectionist for pitch and interperting lyrics. I remember when I wasn’t getting one or both right (not concentrating). He would put on the old 33rpm record player and play the artist he wanted me to listen to and help me through a problem I was having with a song. Most of the time it was either Vic or Frank. Primarily Vic for pitch and voice quality and Frank for creating a mood with a song. If it were a sad song he almost had you thinking of suicide. Frank is gone. Vic is still with us. Come back one more time. I still record and perform the American Songbook. I learned more from Vic and Frank than any other performers who sing Gershwin, Porter,Rodgers. Vic, I am told those magnificent pipes are in great shape. As Basie said, “one more once.” One more performance would be just fine with me. God Bless and stay healthy.
In the 40′s, I heard Vic Damone for the first time. I thought his voice was phenominal! I was completely mesmerized! He far outshone any of the current singers!
One day I was on my computer and put his name on my website and was so delighted when I found him. His singing brought so many memories back to me and his voice was so beautiful! I immeditely went out and bought his “Signature 2 Album on love songs” and his book “Singing Was the Easy Part”. I enjoyed both immensely and read his book 3 times. It is a wonderful book written by a great person!
Now he is going to have a concert at the Kravis Perfoming Art Center in Palm Beach on Jan. 22, 2011. I wish I could be there but if he will make a DVD of his performance, I will certainly buy it. The Center will be so crowded that you won’t be able to stir them with a stick!
They say that “music is the stairway to Heaven” and if that is true Vic has his foot on the first rung. I am so glad he came along in my lifetime.
I can say, without hesitation, that I am an ardent fan of Vic Damones. I wish him good health and every happiness. He certainly deserves it.
God Bless, Vic.
Joyce John
Austin, Texas
A very interesting review. I had the honour of interviewing Vic for In Tune International Magazine back in 2004.
He is quite simply the best of all the popular singers who sing the Great American songbook.
Extremely popular in the UK and the rest of Europe and if he ever reconsidered touring he would play to packed audiences.
Dear Vic—–This is a treat for me. i have marveled and admired that remarkable voice of yours. Many times i have day dreamed the thought of singing with your sound. You are the best. I am 7 years your younger than you also Brooklyn born. I have followed your career from the start. About 10 years ago you came to Dallas, I made sure my wife and I had the best seats in the house. You serenaded us for over an hour. Your golden voice did not fail us, you were magnificent. Vic, God bless you, stay well.
Marty Elfenbein
Dallas,Texas
This an intelligent interview and commented on by inteligent people
and fans. Yeah, I remember when Vic hit the scene with “You’re Breaking My Heart.” Then my older sister bought a record (78 rpm) of “Vagabond Shoes (why did you roam).” It swung in like the Sinatra Capitol years. BUT Frank himself had not yet started to sing/swing in that style. It was a knockout. YET, it was as if Vic decided I don’t want to do that anymore. Question is, “Why?”
I wish Vic’s song Perry would comment and/or answer my query here.
Some of my Damone favorites off the beaten trail: “Why Was I Born?” “Nina Never Knew” “Christmas in San Francisco” “Tender Is the Night” and others. Personally, I’ve sung in nightclubs in LA, DC, and Miami; I know my music and singers; and Damone is the cream. – Vance Garnett
I just finished reading “Singing was the Easy Part” and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was particularly interested because when I was a new Baha’i in San Francisco in 1964, I was thrilled to hear of Vic’s adherence to the Baha’i Faith too. I will happily recommend this book to my friends in England where I live.
Dear Perry Damone,
I have a question for you about your dad’s concert in W. Palm Beach on Jan. 22 of this year. Why didn’t “someone” make a DVD or CD of his performance? I have searched for it ever since he performed and can’t believe that one was not made. We have to endure all these inferior videos and when a true artist finally comes out of retirment to honor us with his voice, not one DVD or CD was made. Did you know that they were not going to make one? I couldn’t attend his performance, much to my disappointment, but was looking forward to buying a DVD. Somebody goofed!! I feel cheated and robbed! It is obvious that I am a Vic Damone fan and have been since the late 40′s and early 50′s. He has the most wondrous voice of this world!! I am so thrilled that he has had a “resurgance” and hope that he will continue to do so. Would you please check and see if one was made? Ann Titus is a friend of mine and she said that she has not seen one either. We keep hoping…… It isn’t fair that the people who couldn’t attend his concert would be denied of hearing him again. As I have said many times before, “if music is the stairway to Heaven, Vic has his foot on the first step”. I am so glad he came along in my lifetime. He is the “King of the Baritones”, long live the king!!
Thank you, Vic, for honoring us with your beautiful voice!
Joyce John
Austin, Texas
Dear Vic,
I haven’t written a comment about you in weeks so it is time!! I am quoting what I read about you today, so here goes………………
“Vic Damone’s voice is……elegant, laid back, mannered, mellow, refined, romantic, sentimental, soothing, sophisticated, and stylish.” How about that for a description? And you still sound like that after all these years. You just “keep going on and on and on”!!
I read that you recorded 2000 songs, how can one single person do that? You are a phenominal person, in a class by yourself, like nothing of this earth. If anyone will just listen to “one” of your recordings, it will save me trying to think of words to describe you. What a brilliant artist you are!!
We all love you Vic, and I think you love us back. When you sing those love songs, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that the “romance has not gone out of music today”! We cannot thank you enough for that.
God bless you, Vic.
Dolcemente,
Joyce John
Dear Mr. Damone,
Words could never say to you, how wonderful you are. As a child growing up, we could not go to the movies as we could not afford it. My Father bought a small t.v. and he would get us to watch movies, especially musicals and this is how I found you. I remember “Hit the Deck”, and recently found “Rich, Young and Pretty” which you did both with Jane Powell. You had a certain chemistry on screen and your voice, WOW, what can I say – it is gorgeous and romantic and soothing and all the things you want to hear from a vocalist. Music brings joy and peace and calmness to my spirit, but you also brought a certain romance to it. I think I also saw “Athena” with Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds too. I have looked for you for years and have finally found you and recently talked with Ann Titus, the President of your fan club. I have to tell you that I am right up there with Ann. When I found your first movie Rich, Young and Pretty – I just fell in love with it. You were so sweet and gentle and warm and so in love with Jane and it was so real and nice to see this movie. I watch it every night about five times a night and then go to Hit the Deck and back to Rich, Young and Pretty. Your voice is so strong and so sophisticated and you can feel that you are singing from your heart. I was never able to go to any of your live concerts, I wish I could have, but we just couldn’t afford to – I don’t even think Dad knew where and when they were. I was so disappointed to hear that I missed one down in Palm Beach this past January. You are the BEST of the best. I pray for you every day and pray that God will heal your physical health, whatever it is. I only wish I could have seen you in concert. I do have the two movies which I love and adore and some of your CD’s.
God sure gave you a special gift and talent with your voice and I know that you made a lot of people happy with it. I know that for me, you mean the world to me and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to hear you and see you in the two movies. I love your music and your voice. God Bless you Mr. Damone. If you ever do another concert I sure want to know about it. I was born in Erie, PA but have retired to Greenville, NC, but I am not too old to still listen to you sing and love every minute of it. THANK YOU SO MUCH FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. I asked Ann if she could help me get a photo of you. I will cherish it and all the memories I was able to keep deep within my heart and life. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AND GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU AND PLEASE STAY HEALTHY – I AM PRAYING FOR YOU.
To both Cheryl Benim and Joyce John – you sound like terrific fans of Vic like many of us on http://www.vicdamone.com
Why don’t you pay a visit to Vic’s website – photos-music-films & just general discussion. We’d love to have you visit!!!
I am surprised we didn’t bump into each other. I lived on Cropsey Ave and Bay 28th St. Bensonhurst. I remember St. Finbars and went to Lafayette High School. I always thought you were the best but were not recognized as such because you were humble, not show business glitz. Good to read this article.
I, too, am surprized and amazed that nobody recorded Vic’s recent concert at th Kravitz cnt. It could have been as simple as recording the concert on an inexpensive digital recorder costing $30 or
so, then uploadling it to youtube.com. All of Vics fans could then download it from youtube. It would have been the next best thing to being there.
I too am amazed that no one seeem to have recorded Vic’s recent concert at the Kravitz Center Back on January 22, 2011. It would have been as simple as recording it on an inexpensive (~$30) digital recorder, then uploading it to youtube.com. Anyone could then download it from youtube. It would have been the next best thing to being there. I hope if Vic givss another concert, somebody does this