Alan Dale (singer)
Encyclopedia
Alan Dale was an American
singer of traditional popular
and rock and roll
music
.
borough of New York
. His father, Aristide Sigismondi, immigrated to the United States
from Abruzzi, Italy
in 1904 at the age of 21, and became a comedian
in Italian language
theater, with a radio
program of his own. His mother, Agata "Kate" Sigismondi, was born in Messina, Sicily
, and was 15 years younger than Aristide.
At the age of nine, Aldo got his first chance to perform publicly when his father was running short on his program and called on Aldo to sing. Though Aldo fainted immediately upon completing his song, he was good enough that he became a regular on his father's program.
Dale's intention was originally not to be a singer, but to go into journalism
. However, he quit school after an argument with a teacher and ended up going from one job to another, until one day in 1943 he and a friend passed by a casino
in Coney Island
and the friend suggested he try out for a singing job. He was told to come back in the evening, and when he came back prepared to sing two songs, was called back for seven encores. He was immediately hired. In 1944, he joined the Carmen Cavallaro
Orchestra as featured vocalist, and at Cavallaro's insistence got a new name. The name was taken from Alan-a-Dale
. In 1944 and 1945, Dale sang for George Paxton's Orchestra
and became increasingly popular on the East Coast performing at the Roseland Ballroom
in New York and recording for Majestic Records
.
, a record producer
, to sign up as a solo artist with Signature Records
. He premiered as a soloist on Columbia records in a December 1947 film short featuring the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra. The next year he got his own television
show, The Alan Dale Show
, on the DuMont Television Network
and later on CBS
.
In the early 1950s, he shuttled around from one record label
to another, going from Columbia
to Decca
before settling with Coral
, the label on which he had his major hits: "(The Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart" (together with Johnny Desmond
and Don Cornell
), which reached #10 on Billboard
in 1953, a vocal version of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" which reached #14 in 1955, and "Sweet and Gentle," which also charted in 1955, at #10. The latter two recordings sold over one million copies each, and were awarded a gold discs
.
He became a friend of Alan Freed
, and as a result got a chance to play a role as a rock and roll singer in the 1956 film
, Don't Knock the Rock
. In this movie, he played alongside Freed, Bill Haley & His Comets
, Little Richard
, and The Treniers
. He sang the title song, which he also recorded as a single
.
In 1957 he resumed his shuttling from one record label to another, going to ABC
, MGM
, and United Artists
. In 1958, while in a nightclub in New York, Dale was attacked.
were refusing to have him on their shows, causing his career to go into decline. This was not helped by his authorship of a 1965 autobiography
, The Spider and the Marionettes, in which he listed names of people who were trying to affect his career adversely, with descriptions of their activities toward this end.
He died in New York in 2002, at the age of 76.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer of traditional popular
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
.
Early life
He was born Aldo Sigismondi in the BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
borough of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His father, Aristide Sigismondi, immigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Abruzzi, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1904 at the age of 21, and became a comedian
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
in Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
theater, with a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program of his own. His mother, Agata "Kate" Sigismondi, was born in Messina, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, and was 15 years younger than Aristide.
At the age of nine, Aldo got his first chance to perform publicly when his father was running short on his program and called on Aldo to sing. Though Aldo fainted immediately upon completing his song, he was good enough that he became a regular on his father's program.
Dale's intention was originally not to be a singer, but to go into journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
. However, he quit school after an argument with a teacher and ended up going from one job to another, until one day in 1943 he and a friend passed by a casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
in Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
and the friend suggested he try out for a singing job. He was told to come back in the evening, and when he came back prepared to sing two songs, was called back for seven encores. He was immediately hired. In 1944, he joined the Carmen Cavallaro
Carmen Cavallaro
Carmen Cavallaro was an American pianist. He established himself as one of the most accomplished and admired light music pianists of his generation.-Music career:...
Orchestra as featured vocalist, and at Cavallaro's insistence got a new name. The name was taken from Alan-a-Dale
Alan-a-Dale
Alan-a-Dale is a figure in the Robin Hood legend...
. In 1944 and 1945, Dale sang for George Paxton's Orchestra
George Paxton
George Paxton was an American big band leader, saxophonist, composer, publisher, and arranger of swing jazz music from the 1930s to the late 1940s; as well as president and producer of Coed Records, primarily a doo-wop label, from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s.-Early career:He was born in...
and became increasingly popular on the East Coast performing at the Roseland Ballroom
Roseland Ballroom
The Roseland Ballroom is a multi-purpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theatre district, on West 52nd Street....
in New York and recording for Majestic Records
Majestic Records
Majestic Records was a mid-20th century New York City based record label. The label enjoyed its greatest commercial success in the 1940s, until over-ambitious expansion and an inability to keep distributors supplied with pressings of discs resulted in financial problems, and the label folded in...
.
Musical career
In 1947 he was encouraged by Bob ThieleBob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
, a record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, to sign up as a solo artist with Signature Records
Signature Records
Signature Records was a mid-20th century United States based record label. Noted Signature recording artists included Anita O'Day, Coleman Hawkins, Eddie Lawrence, Ray Anthony, Barbara McNair, Monica Lewis, Dickie Thompson, Jane Harvey, Kay Thompson and Alan Dale. Bob Thiele produced records for...
. He premiered as a soloist on Columbia records in a December 1947 film short featuring the Elliot Lawrence Orchestra. The next year he got his own television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
show, The Alan Dale Show
The Alan Dale Show
The Alan Dale Show was an early American television program broadcast on the now defunct DuMont Television Network and then on CBS .-Broadcast history:...
, on the DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
and later on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
In the early 1950s, he shuttled around from one record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
to another, going from Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
to Decca
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
before settling with Coral
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
, the label on which he had his major hits: "(The Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart" (together with Johnny Desmond
Johnny Desmond
Johnny Desmond , born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone, was a popular American singer.-Early years:...
and Don Cornell
Don Cornell
Don Cornell was an American singer prominent mainly in the 1940s and 1950s noted for his smooth but robust baritone voice....
), which reached #10 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
in 1953, a vocal version of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" which reached #14 in 1955, and "Sweet and Gentle," which also charted in 1955, at #10. The latter two recordings sold over one million copies each, and were awarded a gold discs
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
.
He became a friend of Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
, and as a result got a chance to play a role as a rock and roll singer in the 1956 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Don't Knock the Rock
Don't Knock the Rock
Don't Knock the Rock is a 1957 rock and roll film starring Alan Dale as a rock star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults...
. In this movie, he played alongside Freed, Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
, Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
, and The Treniers
The Treniers
The Treniers were an American R&B and jump blues musical group, led by identical twins Cliff and Claude Trenier. Their Gene Gilbeaux Orchestra included Don Hill on saxophone, Shifty Henry and later James Johnson on bass, Henry Green on drums and Gene Gilbeaux on piano, with the Treniers Twins and...
. He sang the title song, which he also recorded as a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
.
In 1957 he resumed his shuttling from one record label to another, going to ABC
ABC Records
ABC Records was an American record label, founded in New York City in 1955 as ABC-Paramount Records. It originated as the main popular music label operated the Am-Par Record Corporation, the music subsidiary of the American Broadcasting Company . ABC-Paramount Records' first president was Samuel H....
, MGM
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
, and United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
. In 1958, while in a nightclub in New York, Dale was attacked.
Career decline and death
At the end of the 1950s, Dale found television hosts such as Ed SullivanEd Sullivan
Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the TV variety show The Ed Sullivan Show. The show was broadcast from 1948 to 1971 , which made it one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S...
were refusing to have him on their shows, causing his career to go into decline. This was not helped by his authorship of a 1965 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
, The Spider and the Marionettes, in which he listed names of people who were trying to affect his career adversely, with descriptions of their activities toward this end.
He died in New York in 2002, at the age of 76.