Guy Lombardo

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Guy Lombardo

Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (born June 19, 1902 in London , Ontario; † November 5, 1977 ) was an Italian - Canadian - American big band leader and violinist, known for his Royal Canadians' New Year's Eve concerts in New Zealand York.

Live and act

Guy Lombardo founded a dance band in his hometown, which from 1924 called itself "The Royal Canadians". His brothers, saxophonist Carmen Lombardo (1903–1971), who also wrote and sang music for the band, saxophonist Victor Lombardo (1911–1994) and trumpeter Lebert Lombardo (1905–1993) were there. They made their first recording in 1924 for Gennett and in the 1920s they sold hundreds of thousands of records with their catchy dance music (even Louis Armstrong was one of their fans) - their motto was “The Sweetest Music this side of Heaven”. In the period of its existence from 1929 to 1959 they had their headquarters first in Cleveland , then in Chicago, where they made their breakthrough when they signed Jules Stein from MCA ; later they played at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, where the nationwide radio broadcast New Year's Eve concerts (with "Auld Lang Syne" at the beginning of the new year, which is still played in its version in Times Square at the turn of the year) became the institution, the Lombardo continued at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel until 1976 after the Roosevelt was closed.

In 1934 Lombardo's orchestra was one of the first to be signed to the newly formed Decca Records label, which released a large number of Lombardo's records over the next twenty years. Lombardo became a US citizen in 1938. In addition to his big band activity, he was also known as a participant in motorboat races ("Hydroplane").

Between 1940 and 1950, Lombardo had 15 top ten hits, including the number one hit It's Love - Love - Love (1944, with Skip Nelson ). Trombonist George West played in his band in the 1950s.

Heart problems ended his career in 1977. In 1978 he was posthumously inducted into the newly established Canadian Music Hall of Fame as one of the first two artists .

literature

  • Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978
  • Simon, George T .: The Big Bands . With a foreword by Frank Sinatra. 3rd revised edition. New York City, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1974, pp. 321-325

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Lombardo is said to have sold over 300 million records during his lifetime
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Records 1940-1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 33
  3. ^ Canadian Music Hall of Fame - Inductees. Canadian Music Hall of Fame , accessed August 6, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Lombardy, guy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lombardo, Gaetano Alberto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH London , Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH 5th November 1977