After the death of Cyd Charisse 17 June 2008, aged 86, and realising Charisse was married to singer Tony Martin for almost 60 years, a notable length among Hollywood marriages. (Singers Eydie Gormé and Steve Lawrence tied the know 29 December 1957) I decided to check out an earlier ‘Tonight At Seven’ feature on Tony Martin I did on Today FM, Thursday 20 June 1996.
I also had email correspondence with Maurice who said “Heard Tony Martin. Didn't know his style. Guess that has something to do with the fact that I've never heard him before. Have you ever seen Fred actually dancing to 'Puttin On The Ritz'. It's another knockout. But I still prefer Kelly. Had a fair bit to do with dancing myself.”
Born Alvin Morris, Christmas Day 1912 in Oakland, California. Tony played saxaphone in Tom Gerun’s band before launching his long and successful singing career. He sang in a hotel bandin San Francisco and after a radio broadcast he joined a band at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. Finally he went to Hollywood where he acted and sang in many musical films, to become internationally known. He was featured in many films from 1936 to 1957, and frequently performed on stage with his wife, movie star Cyd Charisse.
He first made the charts when he was a vocalist for a time with Ray Noble and His Orchestra in 1938.
Tonight we start with Tony Martin from late 1949 with There’s No Tomorrow, which was a song from one of his movies Two Tickets To Broadway.
I Said My Pajamas (And Put On My Pray’rs) a duet with Fran Warren from early 1950.
Voice Break 1
There was a sense of nostalgia with memories of postwar France with the song La Vie En Rose doing well in the States with seven versions making the US Top 30. The original by Edith Piaf was about the middle but the top charting version belonged to Tony Martin...
Voice Break 2
I Get Ideas was a #3 effort from Tony Martin that charted from June 1951 and was adapted from the Argentine Tango “Adios Muchachos”
Domino #9, 12 weeks in US Top 30 from November 1951
Wrap-up We also have available from Tony Martin, his duet with Dinah Shore, “A Penny A Kiss”and a 1956 chart “Walk Hand In Hand”
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