Buddy Clark (born Samuel Goldberg, July 26, 1912 – October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the
Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
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
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and he became one of the nation's top
crooner
A crooner is a singer who performs with a smooth, intimate style that originated in the 1920s. The crooning style was made possible by better microphones that picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to acce ...
s. He died in a plane crash in 1949.
Life and career
Clark was born to
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish parents in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...
, Tillie (Leibowitz), from Romania, and Nathan Goldberg, from Russia. He made his
Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
singing debut in 1932 as a
tenor
A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
, with
Gus Arnheim
Gus Arnheim (September 4, 1897 – January 19, 1955) was an American pianist and an early popular band leader. He is noted for writing several songs with his first hit being " I Cried for You" from 1923. He was most popular in the 1920s and 1930s. ...
's orchestra, but was not successful. Singing
baritone
A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
, he gained wider notice in 1934, with
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially.
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...
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
Vocalion Records is an American record label, originally founded by the Aeolian Company, a piano and organ manufacturer before being bought out by Brunswick in 1924.
History
The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pi ...
, having a top-20 hit with "
Spring Is Here
"Spring is Here" is a 1938 popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart for the musical '' I Married an Angel'' (1938), where it was introduced by Dennis King and Vivienne Segal.
Rodgers and Hart had previously written ...
". 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
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
Lee Eastman (born Leopold Vail Epstein; January 12, 1910 – July 30, 1991) was an American show business lawyer and art collector from New York City.Jack Lawrence, wrote the song at Lee's request.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.
Linda Eastman grew up and married Beatle
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...
, 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
Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...
. He was also the narrator of the 1948
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
musical anthology, ''
Melody Time
''Melody Time'' is a 1948 American live-action and animated musical anthology film produced by Walt Disney. It was released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on May 27, 1948. Made up of seven segments set to popular music and folk music, the f ...
''. A month after his death, his recording of " A Dreamer's Holiday" hit the charts.
Death and legacy
On Saturday, October 1, 1949, hours after the 37-year-old had completed a '' Club Fifteen'' broadcast on CBS Radio with
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...
—subbing for ailing host Dick Haymes—Clark joined five friends in renting a small plane to attend a
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
vs.
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
game in Stanford, California. On the way back to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
after the game, the plane ran out of fuel, lost altitude, and crashed on
Beverly Boulevard
Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east–west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtow ...
in
West Los Angeles
West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped ...
. 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
Al Jolson (born Asa Yoelson, ; May 26, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-born American singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian.
Self-billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," Jolson was one of the United States' most famous and ...
impression.
The plane's pilot, James L. Hayter, later joined the U.S. Air Force and was involved in another accident in 1956. He later retired as a Lt Colonel and died in 2012.
Clark is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California
Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles.
As of 2024, Glendale ha ...
, near his widow and daughter.
Clark had previously been married to Louise Hitz, stepdaughter of famed hotelier
Ralph Hitz
Ralph Hitz (1 March 1891 - 12 January 1940) was a pioneer in the hotel industry, whose ideas for marketing and customer service became the industry standard for luxury lodging. During the 1930s he was the head of the National Hotel Management Comp ...
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.
For his contributions to the music industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 6800
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...
.
Hit songs
*"An Apple Blossom Wedding" (1947)
*"
Baby, It's Cold Outside
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...
" (1949) (duet with
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the ...
)
*"
Ballerina
A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancer ...
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...
, flip side of '' Love Somebody'', Columbia 38174; also a hit for
Patti Page
Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...
)
*"Don't You Love Me Anymore" (1947)
*" A Dreamer's Holiday" (1949) (bigger hit for
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an American singer, actor, and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, from 1943 until 1987 ...
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...
)
*"Matinee" (1948)
*"May I Have the Next Romance?" (1936)
*" My Darling, My Darling" (1948) (Duet with
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
and
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...
)
*"Rosalie" (with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra)
*"The Rhythm of the Rhumba" (Duet with Joe Host and the Lud Gluskin orchestra) (1936)
*"Serenade" (1948)
*"She Shall Have Music" (1936)
*"South America, Take It Away!" (with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra)
*"Spring Is Here" (1938)
*"Take My Heart" (1936) (flip side of ''These Foolish Things'')
*" These Foolish Things" (1936)
*"These Things Money Can't Buy" (1947) (flip side of ''I'll Dance at Your Wedding'')
*" The One I Love (Belongs to Somebody Else)"
*"The Treasure of Sierra Madre" (1948)
*"Until Today" (1936)
*"Where the Apple Blossoms Fall" (1948)
*"You Are Never Away" (1948)
*" You're Breaking My Heart" (Orchestra & Chorus Conducted by Harry Zimmerman)
References
Further reading
* 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.