Perry Como Biography

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American crooner during the 20th century. Throughout a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. He sold millions of records for RCA but he also pioneered a weekly musical variety television show which set the standard and proved one of the most successful in television history. His combined success on television and popular recordings has never been equalled by any other artist of the time.

A popular television performer and recording artist, Perry Como achieved numerous hit records throughout the world with record sales so high the label literally stopped counting at Como's behest. His weekly television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world for which his popularity seemingly had no geographical or language boundaries. He was equally at ease in live performance or in the confines of a recording studio. His appeal spanned generations and he was widely respected for both his professional standards and the conduct of his personal life. In the official RCA Records Billboard Magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all."

Well known American composer Ervin Drake said of him, " . . . occasionally someone like Perry comes along and won't "go with the flow" and still prevails in spite of all the bankrupt others who surround him and importune him to yield to their values. Only occasionally."

Perry Como received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

Como, an Italian American, was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, the middle child of 13 children. Although he always liked to sing, his first great ambition was to be the best barber in Canonsburg. After graduation from high school, he opened his own barber shop. In 1933, he married his teenage sweetheart, Roselle Belline, whom he had met at a picnic in 1929 when he was just 16. They remained married until her death in August 1998 at age 84. Como was reportedly devastated by her passing.

Perry Como made the move to television when NBC televised the Chesterfield Supper Club radio program on December 24, 1948. In 1950, he moved to CBS and the show's title was changed to The Perry Como Show. Como hosted this 15 minute musical variety series on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, immediately following the CBS Television News. The Faye Emerson Show was broadcast in the same time slot on Tuesday and Thursday.

Como's 15 minute television show continued through the early 1950's. in 1955, The Perry Como Show was moved to Saturday night and expanded to an hour long. In 1959, Como moved to Wednesday night, hosting the Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall for the next five years.

Como became the highest-paid performer in the history of television to that date, earning mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. Prior to this, Como competed with Jackie Gleason in what was billed the "Battle of the Giants", and won. This is now rarely mentioned, in part because Como commonly played down his own achievements.

Como had numerous Christmas television specials, beginning on Christmas Eve 1948, and continuing to 1994, when his final Christmas special was recorded in Ireland. After his weekly TV series ended in 1963, Como's television specials became bi-monthly, then monthly, and were finally limited to seasonal specials celebrating Easter, Spring, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, ending in 1987. They were recorded from many parts of the world, including the United Kingdom, Rome, Austria, France, and many locations throughout North America. Como's Christmas concert in Ireland was his final special, and the last of his commercial recordings.

In January 1994, Como travelled to Dublin, Ireland, for what would be an auspicious moment in his long career of more than sixty years. 1993 would have marked his fiftieth anniversary with the RCA Victor label as well as his forty-fifth year of television specials celebrating Christmas and its importance throughout the world to people of all faiths. Como's Irish Christmas was produced for the American PBS public television system and despite Como looking aged and unwell, has been re-broadcast annually since 1994.

Como died quietly in his sleep on May 12, 2001 at his home in Jupiter Inlet Colony, Florida, six days before his eighty-ninth birthday. He was reported to have suffered from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease throughout the final years of his life.

Perry Como's birthplace of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania is also the birth place of popular singer Bobby Vinton. Vinton always claimed to be from Pittsburgh, while Como always said he was from Canonsburg.

The comedy show SCTV featured a popular sketch with Eugene Levy as "Perry Como: Still Alive!" in which the singer was portrayed as so laid-back that he sang while lying down. The sketch became well enough known to have been mentioned in obituaries, which reported that Como had been greatly amused by it.

Como's sugary Christmas track "Christmas Dream", complete with warm lyrics and charming German schoolchildren as the chorus, was used in the holocaust / Nazi-pursuit film The Odessa File, forming a memorably ironic, bitter and satirical introduction to the film as John Voight drives through a modern brightly lit Hamburg at Christmas.