Perry Como

He was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio at 1708 Vine St., for Recording at 6631 Hollywood Blvd. and for Television at 6376 Hollywood Blvd.

Performed at a ten-cent-a-dance in Pittsburgh called "The Grove" in the early 1930s. He did not have a car to get to work, so he traveled to work on a trolley every day.

In 1937, he joined the Ted Weems orchestra and was featured on the band's "Beat the Band" radio program. His career was on the rise. But, with the start of WWII and the eventual breakup of Weems' band, Como found himself back in Canonsburg in a barbershop cutting hair -- not for long, however. CBS radio soon offered him a weekly show at $100 a week and RCA signed him to a recording contract that garnered him in the next 14 years 42 Top 10 hits, a feat bettered only by Bing Crosby. These hits included "Dig You Later (A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba)," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "They Say It's Wonderful," "Surrender" and "Some Enchanted Evening.

In a singing (and sometimes acting) career that spanned over six decades, the name Perry Como has come to mean that warm, smooth, easy-listening, general-audience, slow-flame romance that characterized popular music in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It has also come to represent an overall good feeling.

Telling of the success of the appeal of that good feeling early on in his career, during just a single week in the 1940s, the music industry pressed and sold 4 million Como records.

"It was also during his singing career in the 1940s that Como appeared in three films for Twentieth Century Fox. His parts were unfortunately less than memorable, partly because of his overpowering screen presence of his co-star Carmen Miranda.

Had the longest stay of any popular artist with RCA Victor Records: 1943-88.

" The 1945 rendition of "Till the End of Time," (a song associated with the movie "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and based on Chopin's "Polonaise in A-Flat Minor") was perhaps his most memorable hit from this era. Other hits were on the lighter side of romance and included "Hot Diggity" and the forever a favorite "Papa Loves Mambo.

His 1946 recording of "Jingle Bells" topped Billboard magazine's Hot Ringtones chart--five years after he died. [December 2006]

But Como did have a screen presence, and he found its niche in the magic of the living room theater when he made his television debut in 1948 with NBC's "The Chesterfield Supper Club.

In the 1950s, 11 of his singles sold well over 1 million copies each. In more than six decades of singing, his records sold more than 100 million copies; 27 individual prints reached the million-record mark. Christened Pierino Como in Canonsburg, Pa. , and one of a family of 13 children, Como pursued a career as a barber before he launched his singing career. At 11, he was working after school cutting hair in a barbershop. Before long he had set his sights on owning his own shop -- even making monthly payments toward one. He enjoyed singing, however, and let go of his barbershop ambitions soon after high school and his marriage to his high school sweetheart, Roselle Beline. It didn't take long to prove that he had talent and soon landed a spot in the Freddie Carlone Orchestra, where he made $28 a week touring the Midwest.

" In 1950, he was at the helm of his own show with CBS: "The Perry Como Show," which ran for five years.

Back on NBC in 1955 he achieved his greatest success in the medium with an eight-year run. This was the show that featured his theme song: "Sing Along With Me. " The show included the talents of the Ray Charles Singers and announcer Frank Gallop. It was also in this show where he developed and honed the image of the cardigan-wearing, relaxed, wholesome nice-guy that has been his trademark ever since.

In 1956 and '57 he won Emmy Awards for most outstanding television personality. The show itself won Peabody and Golden Mike awards. During his tenure with this show he also received the Recording Industry Association of America's first ever Gold Disc Award for his rendition of "Catch a Falling Star.

The private Como was exactly as he appeared to the public: a quiet, self-effacing man who considered his performing activities as strictly tertiary to his family and his faith. While he had numerous million-selling singles and albums, he refused to have most of them certified gold (later platinum) out of modesty. A notable exception was when his album "Como's Gold Records" (RCA Victor: 1958) was released. One of the first compilation albums to become a best-seller, with liner notes by Irving Berlin, it became a million-seller in and of itself, and remained on the Billboard charts for more than a decade after its release.

" He retired from his show in 1963, opting to work only occasionally on t. v. specials. These specials included his traditional Christmas shows.

After two decades of just canned music, he returned to live performances in the 1970s, playing Las Vegas and other circuits; he even did a sell-out tour of Australia.

Following his death, he was interred with his wife Roselle Beline at Riverside Memorial Park in Tequesta, Palm Beach County, Florida. He passed away only six days before his 89th birthday.

Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame (1990).

In May 2001, days after Como's death, columnist William F. Buckley wrote a column describing a past act of Como's kindness when he gave Buckley's mother a jeweled brooch of his (when she needed a pin to repair an outfit) on board a plane.

Posthumously inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006).