Singing Was the Easy Part

Vic Damone is one of the enduring legends of American pop music. His early days were spent as an usher who longed to take the stage at New York City's legendary Paramount Theater. On August 30, 1947, he got his wish when his first hit I Have But One Heart reached #7 on the Billboard Chart. Befriended by Frank Sinatra and encouraged by legends like Perry Como and Tommy Dorsey, Damone had one of the greatest voices ever recorded covering such Lerner and Loewe classics as On the Street Where You Live and Gigi while making other numbers, like You Do, his own.

In Singing Was the Easy Part, Damone tells the whole story of his life - and what a life it's been! A mob boss tried to throw him out the window of the Edison Hotel in New York City when he broke off an engagement to the boss's daughter. He was married to a string of glamorous women including the beautiful Anna Pierangeli and the tempestuous Diahann Carroll. When he got to Hollywood, Judy Garland gave him his first screen test, he got drunk for the first time with Ava Gardner at Chasens and he went golfing regularly with George Burns and Jack Benny. Oh yeah, there's also the story about how he took a nude chorus girl into the steam room of the Sands Hotel where Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin were relaxing between shows. All that - and much more - makes Singing Was the Easy Part a rollicking star-studded memoir from the great Vic Damone.

Author: Vic Damone, David Chanoff
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 07/06/2010
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 8.94h x 6.10w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780312570262

About the Author

With seven gold records and innumerable hits, Vic Damone was one of the greatest expositors of the American Songbook. Frank Sinatra said he had the best pipes in the business. Luciano Pavarotti called him simply The Voice.

David Chanoff has written on foreign policy, education, literary history, and other subjects for such publications as the New York Times, The American Scholar, and The Washington Post. His sixteen books include collaborations with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders, and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff William Crowe.

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