Damone met Perry Como while at the Paramount Theater. Damone stopped the elevator between floors and sang for him. Como was impressed and referred him to a friend for an audition.
He began his career at the New York radio station WHN when he was 17, singing on the Gloom Dodgers show, which provided light entertainment to fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He changed his name at the suggestion of a regular on the show, comedian Morey Amsterdam.
Damone entered the talent search on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and won in April 1947. This led to his becoming a regular on Godfrey's show. He met Milton Berle at the studio and Berle got him work at two night clubs. By mid-1947, Damone had signed a contract with Mercury Records.
His first release, "I Have But One Heart", reached number seven on the Billboard chart. "You Do" reached the same peak. These were followed by a number of other hits. In 1948, he got his own weekly radio show, Saturday Night Serenade.
Damone's other notable television work during this time included three guest appearances from 1963 to 1964 on CBS's The Judy Garland Show. He also guested on UK television, among other programs on The Tommy Cooper Hour Christmas special in 1974. In addition to his solo performances, Garland and he sang duet medleys of songs from Porgy and Bess, West Side Story and Kismet.
In 1971, Damone began performing in Las Vegas casinos and although he had to declare bankruptcy in the early 1970s, he was earning enough to ease his financial difficulties. He made concert tours of both the US and the UK and recorded more albums for RCA Records. In the UK, he appeared on Tommy Cooper's Christmas Special television show in 1974.
Personal life
Damone suffered a stroke in 2002 and another health scare in 2008. He recovered from both, and lived until 2018. Damone was married five times and divorced four:
- Pier Angeli (1954–1958), actress, singer (one son – Perry Damone, 1955–2014)
- Judith Rawlins (1963–1971) (three daughters – Victoria, Andrea and Daniella)
- Becky Ann Jones (1974–1982), entertainer
- Diahann Carroll (1987–1996), actress, singer
- Rena Rowan-Damone (1998–2016), fashion designer, businessperson, philanthropist
Damone had six grandchildren from his daughters (Tate, Paige, Sloane, Rocco, Daniella, Grant).
Damone's first wife, Pier Angeli, was previously in a well-publicized relationship with James Dean, but was forced to leave him to marry Damone, a move that garnered great media attention. It was reported that Dean had watched the wedding from across the road on his motorcycle, even gunning the engine during the ceremony, although Dean later denied doing anything so "dumb". Six years after divorcing Angeli, Damone was arrested on October 15, 1964, on Angeli's charge that he had kidnapped their 9‐year‐old son Perry (named for Perry Como) and taken him from New York to Los Angeles. He was released three hours later after having pled not guilty to being a fugitive from a kidnapping charge. At the same time, a California judge awarded him custody of Perry. However, Angeli ultimately gained custody of Perry and left Hollywood for her native Italy, taking Perry with her. Perry however returned to California after Angeli's death. Perry died of lymphoma aged 59, on December 9, 2014.
He married actress Diahann Carroll in 1987. The union, which Carroll admitted was turbulent, had a legal separation in 1991, reconciliation, and divorce in 1996.
Damone was raised Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy, claiming to have never found deep meaning in his original faith. In the late 1950s, he was introduced to the Baháʼí Faith by a drummer in his band. Damone said his rendition of "On the Street Where You Live" incorporates gestures meant to summon a sustaining vitality from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá. He officially joined the religion in the early 1960s.
Damone met his Polish-born wife Rena Rowan (born Irena Aurelia Jung on January 4, 1928, in Lida, then part of Poland) in 1996, after she asked him to perform at an event to raise money for her Rowan House charity in Philadelphia, which provides housing for homeless single women with children. Rowan, a breast-cancer survivor, was a clothing distributor who started the Jones New York clothing store chain in the mid-1970s.
Damone lived in Palm Beach County, Florida in his later years. In January 2015, Damone and Rena sold their La Casita home for $5.75 million. Damone and Rena moved to a smaller residence, a townhouse in the Sloans Curve Drive neighborhood of Palm Beach. She suffered a stroke in 2011. In 2013, Damone was involved in a tug-of-war in a Palm Beach County court with Rowan's two daughters, Nina and Lisa Rowan, for control over the destiny of Rowan and her fortune, which was reportedly worth more than $50 million. The court ultimately sided with Damone, ruling that Rena Rowan was capable of making her own decisions. Rowan died on November 6, 2016, at home in Palm Beach, Florida, from complications of pneumonia. She was 88.
Damone died on February 11, 2018, from complications of respiratory illness at the age of 89.
If you want to read more, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Damone
- SERVES
- 8
- PREP
- 10 Min
Good old-fashioned coleslaw is great any time of the year and goes along with almost any dish. When we're craving a creamy, mayonnaise-based coleslaw we make our Country Coleslaw recipe. It's an easy coleslaw recipe that the whole gang'll love!
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups shredded cabbage (see Note)
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 1/2 cup chopped or thinly sliced green bell pepper
- In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice, sugar, and salt. Add cabbage, carrots, and green pepper; toss to coat well.
- Cover and chill until ready to serve.
And births this date include....
HOW TO OBSERVE
- Think of a few happy moments that automatically generate a smile for you. You know, those moments where you belly laughed until your stomach hurts or a time when you were so pleased with yourself your face hurt from smiling. Keep those memories handy and use them to help you smile more often.
- Save a couple of short jokes that are just so silly you can’t help but smile. Tell them to others, too. The best ones are simple children’s jokes or riddles that play on words.
- Learn Spoonerisms. This fun way of swapping letters in two words in a phrase to make new words make people stop and think. And then they smile and so will you! An example of a Spoonerism is instead of ordering peas and carrots at a restaurant you say, “I’ll have the keys and parrots.”
- Make a list of the things you’re grateful for. Which ones make you smile? Keep the list handy and refer to it often. Add to it and feel your smiles add up.
