Pierino Ronald Como was born on May 18, 1912, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, some twenty miles south of Pittsburgh. This famous Italian– American crooner always liked to sing, but his first great ambition, believe it or not, was to be the best barber in his home town. He graduated from high school and opened his own barbershop. In 1933, at the age of twenty-one, he married his teenage sweetheart, Roselle Belline. They were married for more than sixty years.
In that same year, Perry joined Freddie Carlone’s band in Ohio and three years later the Ted Weem’s Orchestra, with whom he made his first recording on the Decca label, a novelty tune called “You Can’t Pull The Wool Over My Eyes”. He stayed with the Weem band until it dissolved in 1942, whereupon he went to CBS. Although he sang for a few years, he was not very successful during this time. Just as he was about to give up and go back home to the barbershop, he was signed for the NBC Supper Club. This marked the true beginning of his career as a performer in theaters and nightclubs.
His first big hit came in 1945 with the recording of “Til The End of Time” (based on Chopin’s Polonaise). Perry Como became the first recording artist to have ten records sell more than one million copies. His subsequent television show also received extremely high ratings. He became known for his Christmas television specials, which began on Christmas Eve, 1948, and continued until 1994 with his final special recorded in Ireland.
Perry Como left the world of recording in the 1980s, unhappy with the many changes that had pervaded the industry. But he returned in 1987 with a final album recorded with his friend and associate, Nick Perito. It included the hit single, “The Wind Beneath My Wings.”
The year 1993 was a special one for Perry Como as it marked his fiftieth anniversary with the RCA Victor label as well as his fortieth year of Christmas television specials. His career spanned more than sixty years and he died on May 12, 2001, just six days before his 89th birthday.
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