Rosemary Clooney
by Weekend Presenter Harry Young
The Ohio River flows for over two thousand miles….and it was in the small river town of Maysville, Kentucky that Andrew Clooney and Marie Guilfoyle settled with their children. The Clooneys essentially lived in poverty…Rosemary and her siblings did not have an easy childhood. Rosie and her sister Betty began singing together to make some money, and eventually came to the public’s attention when they won a singing contest at a Cincinnati radio station. After performing for a time as “The Clooney Sisters”, Rosie set out on her own. She began singing with the Tony Pastor Orchestra, which recorded for Columbia Records; the label then signed her to a solo contract. She felt that she was at her best in singing ballads, but her boss, Mitch Miller, wanted her to do a “novelty” song. Rosie hated the song, and refused; but Miller pointed out that contractually she had to do it. The song was written by Ross Bagdasarian (who would later become better known as “David Seville”), with lyrics by his cousin, author William Saroyan. It was supposed to have an Armenian flavor, but Rosie’s performance made it sound Italian, and “Come On-A My House” became her first big hit. This led to her doing other “Italian”-oriented numbers including “Botch-A-Me” and “Mambo Italiano”.
Rosie did eventually get her wish, and had several ballad hits, including “Tenderly” and “Hey There”. She always said that one of her personal favorites was “Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me” because Irving Berlin wrote it for her to sing in Paramount’s classic “White Christmas”.
At Columbia, Rosie made recordings with such fellow label artists as Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, The Hi-Lo’s and Duke Ellington; after the Columbia years, she recorded with other legends, including Bing Crosby and Nelson Riddle. When Frank Sinatra started Reprise Records, Rosie was one of the first artists he signed to the label. During this time, however, she was dealing with other issues in her personal life, including depression and drug addiction.
In the ‘70s, her good friend Bing Crosby helped revive her career by asking her to join his 50th Anniversary in Show Business tour. She then signed with Concord Jazz records, and spent the rest of her career being known as a jazz artist, recording with many excellent jazz musicians. She continued to record and perform until a few months before she left us in 2002, a victim of lung cancer. Fortunately, she left behind a fabulous catalog of memorable recordings, motion picture performances and even a couple of autobiographies. Although she lived in Beverly Hills, she bought a second home in Augusta, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, not far from her home town of Maysville. These days, you can see much of the memorabilia from her performances and movies (including costumes from “White Christmas”) as well as many personal items on view at The Rosemary Clooney House in Augusta.
