Tony Martin (American singer)
Tony Martin ( Alvin Morris actually; born December 25, 1913 in Oakland, California, † July 27, 2012 in West Los Angeles, California ) was an American actor and singer, who in 1935-1960 great success especially as a singer movie musicals celebrated.
Curriculum vitae
Alvin Morris was born in 1913 in a Portuguese- Jewish family in California. Already with 10 years he received from his grandmother, a soprano saxophone given. In the school orchestra, he played this instrument and sang as a boy soprano. In high school he formed the jazz band The Red Peppers. But soon after, he joined an orchestra, which was led by Tom Guran ( among the members were later greats such as Woody Herman and Ginny Simms ). He played regularly at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and joined the World Expo 1933 in Chicago. 1934 Morris left the band and went to Hollywood to try his luck in the film. To this end, he took the stage name Tony Martin.
He landed his first jobs there in the radio; he appeared among others in the radio shows of George Burns and Gracie Allen. In the cinema he was initially seen only in smaller roles, such as 1936 as a sailor in Follow the Fleet with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the lead roles. Martin worked for the movie studios 20th Century Fox and Metro -Goldwyn -Mayer in the late 1930s gave him starring roles in a number of movie musicals. So he sang and played on the side of Hollywood stars such as Judy Garland and Betty Grable ( Pigskin Parade ), Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea ( Banjo On My Knee ), Rita Hayworth (Music in My Heart ), Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner ( Ziegfeld Girl) and the Marx Brothers (The Big Store).
Between 1938 and 1942 he also made several records on the label Decca Records, mostly with songs from his films. His song The Tenement Symphony of the Marx Brothers comedy The Big Store 1941 was even then regarded as involuntarily comic highlight of the film. Although it initially brought him no commercial success, it has become a kind of " signature tune " for Martin. Wherever he appeared later, he had to play this piece.
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Martin went to the United States Navy. Because of rumors that was never proven that he had accepted bribes an officer, he joined the Army Air Force, the predecessor of the United States Air Force. Despite the best performance even here the rumors damaged his reputation. Even the big record companies refused then to give him a contract. So he ended up with Mercury Records, then a small independent label.
Between 1946 and 1947 he took on five plates for Mercury, including 1946 To Each His Own, which was a million-seller. So also RCA Records showed interest again who took him in 1947 under contract. Martin's greatest success was in 1949 There's No Tomorrow, a cover of the Neapolitan song " O sole mio", the Elvis Presley It's Now or Never is based. In the 1940s and 1950s, Martin appeared in a number of other music movies. His duet with Joan Weldon, Lover Come Back To Me, from the movie Deep in My Heart 1954 - Sigmund Romberg musical, starring José Ferrer - One of the highlights in the Hollywood musical history.
Due to his popularity, he got a 1954 offer for own TV format. By 1956, he hosted the " Tony Martin Show".
1937 Martin married actress Alice Faye; the marriage was divorced in 1941. From 1948 on, he was until her death in 2008 married to actress Cyd Charisse, who kept her last name from her first marriage. The couple had one son, Tony Martin, Jr. (1949-2011), the ( " Playmate of the Year" in 1972 in the U.S.) / actress Liv Lindeland -Martin was married to the Norwegian model. In addition, Charisse had ( * 1942, called Nicky ) brought their son Nicholas from her first marriage with choreographer Nico Charisse in the family.
Together with his wife, Martin starred in the movies " Easy To Love" and " Meet Me In Las Vegas ". His honeymoon led the couple in 1948 to London, where it has since also attracted professionally repeatedly both spouses. So Charisse played in 1986 the role of Lady Hadwell in the stage musical " Charlie Girl" at the Victoria Palace Theatre, Martin had in the 1950s, regular exposure to the London Palladium and appeared in the 1990s repeatedly at the Café Royal.
Music
Successful titles by Tony Martin were:
- Now It Can Be Told (1939 )
- South Of The Border (1939 )
- The Tenement Symphony (1941 )
- Tonight We Love (1941 ) - # 5
- To Each His Own ( 1946) - # 4
- Rumours Are Flying (1946 ) - # 9
- For Every Man There's a Woman ( 1948) - # 30
- There's No Tomorrow ( 1949) - # 2
- I Said My Pajamas ( and Put on My Prayers ) ( 1949) ( duet with Fran Warren ) - # 5
- Take A Letter, Miss Smith ( 1949) ( duet with Fran Warren )
- Domino (1951 ) - # 10
- I Get Ideas ( 1951) ( adaptation of the Argentine tango "Adios Muchachos " )
- I Hear a Rhapsody ( 1952)
- Here ( 1953)
- Walk Hand in Hand (1956 )