Jerry Vale

Born Genaro Louis Vitaliano in 1932, Jerry Vale possessed a beautiful high-tenor voice that illuminated numerous captivating pop standards throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Italian-American selections such as "Innamorata (Sweetheart)," "Volare," "Amore, Scusami," and his signature song, "Al Di La," figured prominently among them. Exposure to the Italian repertoire came early through his mother, who performed the familiar numbers regularly at home and during extended-family gatherings. While shining shoes in a local barber shop at age eleven, the young Vitaliano began offering popular songs to customers. Vocal instruction soon followed, during which he mastered piano alongside singing technique. Within four years he advanced from school productions to paid engagements and ultimately to regular appearances at supper clubs throughout New York City. Guy Mitchell heard one such club set and arranged for Jerry Vale to cut demonstration discs for Columbia. A&R executive Mitch Miller responded to the strong vocal quality by securing Vale a recording contract of his own. The singer first entered the charts in 1953 with "You Can Never Give Me Back My Heart," arranged by Percy Faith, and maintained momentum in the mid-1950s through "Two Purple Shadows," "I Live Each Day," and his biggest hit, "You Don't Know Me." Although the explicitly Italian single "Innamorata (Sweetheart)" appeared in 1956, Vale did not persuade the conservative Miller to approve a complete album of Italian material until 1962. I Have But One Heart sold briskly and was followed the next year by Arrivederci, Roma and the continental collection The Language of Love, both of which reached higher chart positions than the initial release. Traditional pop vocalists encountered obstacles in the mid-1960s, yet Vale continued to thrive with singles such as "Have You Looked Into Your Heart" and "For Mama" as well as Top 40 LPs There Goes My Heart and It's Magic. His albums ceased charting in the early 1970s, but club work and television kept him visible and popular through the 1970s and 1980s.