American singer
Musical artist
Buddy Clark
(born
Samuel Goldberg
, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the
Big Band
era. He had some success in the 1930s, but his career truly blossomed in the late 1940s, after his return from service in
World War II
, and he became one of the nation's top
crooners
. He died in a plane crash in 1949.
Life and career
[
edit
]
Clark was born to
Jewish
parents in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
, Tillie (Leibowitz), from Romania, and Nathan Goldberg, from Russia.
[1]
He made his
Big Band
singing debut in 1932 as a
tenor
, with
Gus Arnheim
's orchestra, but was not successful. Singing
baritone
, he gained wider notice in 1934, with
Benny Goodman
on the
Let's Dance
radio program. In 1936 he began performing on the show
Your Hit Parade
, and remained until 1938. In the mid-1930s he signed with
Vocalion Records
, having a top-20 hit with "
Spring Is Here
". He continued recording, appearing in movies, and dubbing other actors' voices until he entered the military, but did not have another hit until the late 1940s.
In 1946 he signed with
Columbia Records
and scored his biggest hit with the song "
Linda
", recorded in November of that year, but hitting its peak in the following spring. "Linda" was written especially for the
six-year-old daughter
of a show business lawyer named
Lee Eastman
, whose client, songwriter
Jack Lawrence
, wrote the song at Lee's request.
[2]
Linda Eastman grew up and married Beatle
Paul McCartney
.
1947 also saw hits for Clark with such titles as "
How Are Things in Glocca Morra?
" (from the musical
Finian's Rainbow
), which made the Top Ten, "
Peg O' My Heart
", "
An Apple Blossom Wedding
", and "I'll Dance at Your Wedding".
[3]
The following year he had another major hit with "
Love Somebody
" (a duet with
Doris Day
, selling a million and reaching No. 1 on the charts) and nine more chart hits, and extended his success into 1949 with a number of hits, both solo and duetting with Day and
Dinah Shore
. He was also the narrator of the 1948
Disney
musical anthology,
Melody Time
. A month after his death, his recording of "
A Dreamer's Holiday
" hit the charts.
Death and legacy
[
edit
]
On Saturday, October 1, 1949, hours after the 37-year-old had completed a
Club Fifteen
broadcast on
CBS Radio
with
The Andrews Sisters
?subbing for ailing host
Dick Haymes
?Clark joined five friends in renting a small plane to attend a
University of Michigan
vs.
Stanford University
college
football
game in Stanford, California. On the way back to
Los Angeles
after the game, the plane ran out of fuel, lost altitude, and crashed on
Beverly Boulevard
in
West Los Angeles
. Clark did not survive the crash. Clark's last radio broadcast found him in very high spirits, clowning with
Maxene, LaVerne, and Patty Andrews
. He joined them for a comical rendition of "
Baby Face
," during which Buddy amused the CBS studio audience, as well as the famous swing trio of sisters, with his spot-on
Al Jolson
impression.
[2]
The plane's pilot, James L. Hayter, later joined the U.S. Air Force and was involved in another accident in 1956.
[4]
He later retired as a Lt Colonel and died in 2012.
[5]
Clark is buried at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
in
Glendale, California
, near his widow and daughter.
[6]
Clark had previously been married to Louise Hitz, stepdaughter of famed hotelier
Ralph Hitz
in 1935. They had two children (Tommy and Katherine) together before divorcing in 1941.
Jerry Vale
's first album,
I Remember Buddy
(1958), was a tribute to Clark.
[7]
For his contributions to the music industry, he has a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on 6800
Hollywood Boulevard
.
[8]
Hit songs
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"An Exit for a Debut, Odd Writings and Other Works of Katherine Clark - Posts"
. Facebook
. Retrieved
2021-02-06
.
- ^
a
b
Salewicz, Chris,
McCartney
(Macdonald, 1986), p. 198; Lee, Laura,
The Name's Families: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boyardee
(Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1999), p. 293.
- ^
Gilliland, John. (197X).
"Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #20 - All Tracks UNT Digital Library"
. Digital.library.unt.edu
. Retrieved
2021-02-06
.
- ^
"The Crash of the C-124 near Travis AFB, CA - 7 April 1956"
.
Check-Six.com
. Retrieved
31 January
2023
.
- ^
"James Hayter Obituary"
.
Legacy.com
. Retrieved
31 January
2023
.
- ^
"Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) ? Forest Lawn Glendale Museum"
.
The Museum
. 2015-08-21. Archived from
the original
on 2015-12-27
. Retrieved
2015-12-27
.
- ^
I Remember Buddy
at
AllMusic
. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
- ^
"Buddy Clark"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
2016-04-10
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bloom, Ken.
American song. The Complete Musical Theater Companion. 1877?1995’’, Vol. 2, 2nd edition, Schirmer Books, 1996.
- Clarke, Donald (Ed.).
The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music
, Viking, 1989.
- Cuscuna, Michael; Ruppi, Michel.
The Blue Note Label. A Discography
, Greenwood Press, 2001.
- Larkin, Colin.
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
, Third edition, Macmillan, 1998.
External links
[
edit
]
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