Biography of Vic Damone

In the late '40s and the first half of the '50s, Vic Damone had a great deal of success with an approach that owed a great deal to Frank Sinatra, although his delivery was stiffer, and his material about as middle of the road as you could get with a tape measure. Backed by the orchestras of Glenn Osser, George Siravo, George Bassman, Richard Heyman, and others, Damone had well over a dozen big hits for Mercury. A&R man Mitch Miller helped Vic select some of the material, which sometimes delved into Italian folk songs or novelties. Damone left Mercury in the mid-'50s for Columbia, where he continued working with Miller and scored one of his biggest hits, "On the Street Where You Live" (from the My Fair Lady musical), in 1956. Only one Top 20 hit awaited him in the future, but by the late '50s Damone was making the transition to the adult-oriented album market. Recording throughout the ensuing decades with limited success, Damone could always rely on a healthy living on the club-and-casino circuit, where his principal constituency now resides. ~ Richie Unterberger