Born Vito Rocco Farinola, Vic Damone was an American crooner in the classic ballad style of the 1950s whose smooth vocal tones, sensitive phrasing and winning personality endeared him to nightclub audiences and led to success on television with popular recordings and movie appearances. He had a number one hit in the UK in 1958 with the single 'On the Street Where You Live' from 'My Fair Lady' and his recording of 'You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling in Love)' went to number eight on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs Chart in 1965. His filmography includes the musicals 'Hit the Deck' (1955) with Jane Powell, Tony Martin and Debbie Reynolds and 'Kismet' (1955) with Howard Keel and Ann Blyth.
Born in Brooklyn to an Italian immigrant family Damone sang in a church choir as a young boy and a chance meeting with singer Perry Como led to work with a local bandleader. Success on the television show 'Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts' resulted in a recording contract and he took his mother's maiden name as a performer. Club appearances in Los Angeles led to television appearances and he sang on almost every American variety show regularly over the next thirty years. For two years in the 1960s, he was host of an NBC show called 'The Lively Ones', which featured musical guests ranging from Dave Brubeck to Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Anita O'Day.
Damone recorded many albums including 'This Game of Love' (1959), 'Closer Than a Kiss' (1959), 'Angela Mia' (1959), 'On the Swingin' Side' (1961), 'The Lively Ones' (1962), 'Strange Enchantment' (1962) and 'Linger Awhile With Vic Damone' (1962), all of which, digitally remastered, are on a four-disc boxed set titled 'Vic Damone: Seven Classic Albums' released in 2016. His popular singles included 'It Makes No Difference' (1967), 'The Glory of Love' and 'Theme from Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1968), 'Why Can't I Walk Away' (1968), and 'On the South Side of Chicago' (1967).
He continued to perform and record throughout most of his life with a final performance in a sold-out concert in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2011. His songs can be heard in a great many films such as 'Donny Brasco' (1997) and TV shows including 'Mad Men' (2007). He wrote about his colourful life, which included five marriages and run-ins with mobsters, in a 2009 memoir titled 'Singing Was the Easy Part'. Damone died from complications of a respiratory illness in Miami Beach in 2018 at the age of 89.
