Mel Tormé |
Wed. December 29.1999 5:30 PM EST |
Best Of '99: Jazz Singer Mel Tormé, 'The Velvet Fog,' Dies At 73Vocalist — and writer of 'The Christmas Song' — won Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in February. by Staff Writer Chris Nelson |
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[Editor's note: Over the holiday season, SonicNet is looking back at 1999's top stories, chosen by our editors and writers. This story originally ran on Monday, June 7.] Jazz singer Mel Tormé, known by fans as "The Velvet Fog,"
Tormé, who was beloved for his improvisational scat singing over a career that lasted nearly 70 years, died at UCLA Medical Center of complications from a mild stroke he suffered in 1996, according to news reports. Although he is best known as a singer, Tormé wrote or co-wrote more than 300 songs. The most famous of these, co-written with lyricist Robert Wells in 1946, is "The Christmas Song" (RealAudio excerpt), which was popularized by singer Nat King Cole and became a holiday staple. He was born in Chicago on Sept. 13, 1925, and began his career at age 4, when he was invited to sing with a band in a local restaurant. The performance resulted in weekly gig at the eatery. He later crafted arrangements for, and sang with, the Chico Marx Band, led by the famous comedian. Tormé found his biggest early success in England. During his career, he cut more than 50 albums and won several Grammy awards, including a lifetime-achievement award this year. In 1982, he was named Best Male Jazz Vocalist for the album An Evening With George Shearing and Mel Tormé. Tormé remained stridently committed to jazz even as rock 'n' roll took center stage in popular culture. But in 1983, he lent his vocal and piano skills to "Zaz Turned Blue" on Born to Laugh at Tornadoes, an album by funk-pop experimentalists Was (Not Was). The same album featured guest spots by early rocker Mitch Ryder and Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne. In 1988, blues-rock guitarist Steve Miller covered Tormé's "Born to Be Blue" for his jazz standards album of the same name. "He was one of the supreme jazz singers of all time, with the vocal dexterity matched only by Ella Fitzgerald," jazz singer Jack Jones told the Associated Press. "He had the best sense of timing and a lot of heart in his work. And he was a good guy." "No matter how you look at it, Mel Tormé had to be considered a consummate singer — not just as a pop singer but as a highly respected jazz vocalist," the Chicago Tribune quoted Jon Hendricks, another scat vocalist, as saying. Between 1944 and 1974, Tormé acted in several films. He published "The Other Side of the Rainbow," an account of his early-'60s tenure writing music for TV's "The Judy Garland Show," in 1970. He also wrote an entertainment-industry novel "Wynner," published in 1978. Tormé is survived by his wife, Ali, and five children: Steve, Melissa, Tracy, Daisy and James. |
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