Biography
Don Cornell ranks among the final surviving vocalists to emerge from the big band period and sustain a career well into the new century. A generation behind Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, he stands as one of the last pre-rock stars of the 1950s to keep working steadily across more than five decades.
Born Luigi Francisco Valaro, he began in the industry while still a teenager, serving as a guitarist in the orchestra led by trumpet icon Red Nichols. At eighteen he shifted into the spotlight as a vocalist with Sammy Kaye’s ensemble, Swing and Sway With Sammy Kaye. Breaking away in 1949 to pursue a solo path modeled on Sinatra’s example, Cornell scored his first success with “It Isn’t Fair” and collected a dozen gold records between 1950 and 1962. Additional chart entries included “I’m Yours,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” and “Hold My Hand.”
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he appeared frequently on the variety programs of Arthur Godfrey, Jackie Gleason, and his longtime friend Perry Como. By the late 1950s, however, the rock-and-roll wave fronted by younger Bronx natives Dion DiMucci and Bobby Darin steadily displaced him from the upper reaches of the charts. He continued to surface on talk shows into the 1970s and later took occasional acting parts in series such as B.L. Stryker and Miami Vice.
Inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame in 1993, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a few years afterward, yet never withdrew from performing. Cornell maintained regular engagements in the prime venues of Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe while also appearing as a featured soloist with various regional orchestras. Together with his wife Iris he oversaw the reissue of his earlier Coral and Dot sides on their own Iris/MCA imprint, issuing the two-disc retrospective Something to Remember Me By and the Italy-themed collection From Italy With Love. In the same year he recorded the fresh album Don Cornell Now.
Eventually making his home in Florida, he remained active through the 1990s and into the following decade, his timbre staying remarkably steady despite his years. On 23 February 2004, at age eighty-four, he died after battling emphysema and diabetes.
Born Luigi Francisco Valaro, he began in the industry while still a teenager, serving as a guitarist in the orchestra led by trumpet icon Red Nichols. At eighteen he shifted into the spotlight as a vocalist with Sammy Kaye’s ensemble, Swing and Sway With Sammy Kaye. Breaking away in 1949 to pursue a solo path modeled on Sinatra’s example, Cornell scored his first success with “It Isn’t Fair” and collected a dozen gold records between 1950 and 1962. Additional chart entries included “I’m Yours,” “I’ll Walk Alone,” and “Hold My Hand.”
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he appeared frequently on the variety programs of Arthur Godfrey, Jackie Gleason, and his longtime friend Perry Como. By the late 1950s, however, the rock-and-roll wave fronted by younger Bronx natives Dion DiMucci and Bobby Darin steadily displaced him from the upper reaches of the charts. He continued to surface on talk shows into the 1970s and later took occasional acting parts in series such as B.L. Stryker and Miami Vice.
Inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame in 1993, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a few years afterward, yet never withdrew from performing. Cornell maintained regular engagements in the prime venues of Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe while also appearing as a featured soloist with various regional orchestras. Together with his wife Iris he oversaw the reissue of his earlier Coral and Dot sides on their own Iris/MCA imprint, issuing the two-disc retrospective Something to Remember Me By and the Italy-themed collection From Italy With Love. In the same year he recorded the fresh album Don Cornell Now.
Eventually making his home in Florida, he remained active through the 1990s and into the following decade, his timbre staying remarkably steady despite his years. On 23 February 2004, at age eighty-four, he died after battling emphysema and diabetes.
Albums
Night & Day - Don Cornell Early Hits
2023
Don's Great Hits
2012
Don Cornell
2011
Presenting Don Cornell
1959
Don Cornell and Teresa Brewer
1954
Singles
