vic damone dies

Legendary singer Vic Damone passed away on Sunday at the age of 89, his family has shared.

Damone recorded more than 2,500 songs during his lifetime. His biggest hits include “You’re Breaking My Heart” and “On the Street Where You Live.” His baritone voice was so smooth that Frank Sinatra once declared he “had the best pipes in the business.”

Damone got his first big break at the age of 14. After being forced to drop out of high school and take a job as an usher at the Paramount Theater in New York City, he bumped into Perry Como in an elevator. Seeing his chance, Damone stopped the elevator between floors and started singing.

The stars were on his side again in 1946, when Sinatra just so happened to hear Damone singing one of his songs on the radio:

Fate intervened for Damone again in the summer of 1946, when Sinatra was playing poker at a friend’s Manhattan apartment, and one of Sinatra’s classics, “Night and Day,” came on the radio. Sinatra was astounded when the singer turned out to be Damone, live in the studio. Sinatra phoned the radio station and told Damone: “This is Frank Sinatra, and I want you to stop singing my songs.”

Damone thought he was being pranked and barked back, “Yeah, if you’re Frank Sinatra, then I’m the Pope.”

Months later, Sinatra ended up introducing Damone at a charity fundraiser in Madison Square Garden.

“I’d like to introduce to you Vic Damone,” Sinatra said. “This kid’s a really great singer. He’s got stardust on his shoulders.”

Damone also starred in several television series, including “The Vic Damone Show” on NBC, and hit movies including “Kismet” and “Rich, Young, and Pretty.” However, Damone didn’t consider himself a crossover star, writing in his memoir, “I never thought of myself that way. That wasn’t my particular gift. My gift was singing.”

Damone was friends with President Donald Trump, who called him at the hospital just days before he died. Damone passed at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., surrounded by several close relatives. He is survived by six grandchildren and two sisters.

Source: Fox News

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