Antoinette Ardizzone (February 15, 1924 – May 29, 2012), known professionally as Toni Arden, was an American

traditional pop music Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Family

Arden was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Her father, Phillip Ardizzone, was a singer with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

and La Scala. Her brother, Jan Arden, was also a singer. The siblings teamed up for night club performances in the late 1950s.

Career

Early years

Arden became a

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 ...

singer in the 1940s, singing with Al Trace, Joe Reichman, Ray Bloch and

Shep Fields Shep may refer to: People Given name * Shep Fields, American band leader *Shep Goodman, American music producer and songwriter *Shep Gordon, American talent manager, Hollywood film agent, and producer * Shep Mayer, Canadian ice hockey player *Shep ...

Recording

She started

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as a soloist in 1946 for the minor

National Records National Records was a record label that was started in New York City by Albert Green in 1945 and lasted until early 1951. Big Joe Turner was signed at the beginning and remained until 1947. Billy Eckstine was also a big seller for the label as w ...

company. After her appearance on the early television talent series ''

Doorway to Fame ''Doorway to Fame'' is an American talent show broadcast on the now defunct DuMont Television Network. The series ran from May 2, 1947, to July 11, 1949. Overview The series used early television scene-blending technology to project the perfor ...

'', Arden signed her first

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

recording contract with a major

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

, Columbia Records, in 1949 (Arden was arguably the only performer out of 20,000 over ''Doorway to Fame's'' two-year run on air to become relatively famous); at Columbia, she had several hits including " I Can Dream, Can't I?" (which reached No. 7 on the Billboard charts), " Too Young" (which reached No. 15), " Kiss of Fire" (which reached No. 14) and " I'm Yours" (which reached No. 24). CD compilations of these earlier recordings can be found on the Sepia Records label and a two-CD set released by

Jasmine Records Jasmine Records is a London-based record label that specialises in jazz reissues. History The label was founded in 1982 as part of Hasmick Promotions, issuing LPs and cassettes of jazz and popular vocalists. Jasmine diversified into country mu ...

. In the mid-1950s she moved to Decca Records, where her biggest selling record (her only million-seller) was "Padre" in 1958, which peaked at No. 13. LP albums included "Miss Toni Arden", "Besame!", "Sing a Song of Italy" and "Italian Gold". She sang in both Italian and English. The first two albums have been compiled on a second CD by the Sepia Records label. She also recorded briefly for RCA Victor and

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

. Her last album, ''My World is You'' (on GPRT Records), features the compositions of

Gladys Shelley Gladys Shelley (née Shaskan, December 15, 1911 – December 9, 2003) was an American lyricist and composer, who was responsible for over 300 songs. Early life Gladys Shaskan was born in Lawrence, New York to George Fried and Fannie Shaskan. She ...

Radio

In 1954, Arden recorded 13 radio programs for the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

via

electrical transcription Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting,Browne, Ray B. and Browne, Pat, Eds. (2001). ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture''. The University of Wisconsin Press. . P. 263. which wer ...

. ''The Toni Arden Show'' was broadcast on participating local stations. In 1956, she was featured on an episode of ''What's New in Music'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Television

Arden appeared on ''The Music of George Gershwin'', ''

This Is Show Business ''This Is Show Business'' is an American variety television program that was broadcast first on CBS and later on NBC beginning July 15, 1949, and ending September 11, 1956. It was CBS-TV's first regular series broadcast live from coast to coast. It ...

'', Dick Clark's program, and ''

The Jimmy Dean Show ''The Jimmy Dean Show'' is the name of several similar music and variety series on American local and network television between 1963 and 1975. Each starred country music singer Jimmy Dean as host. Daytime ''The Jimmy Dean Show'', initially call ...

''. She and her brother, Jan, sang two duets on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...

'' in 1959.

Album

*1955 ''Shep Fields and his Orchestra with Toni Arden'' (Royale, 18142) *1958 ''Miss Toni Arden'' ( Decca Records, DL 8651) *1958 ''Sing a Song of Italy'' ( Decca Records, DL 78765) *1959 ''Besame!'' ( Decca Records, DL 8875) *1959 ''The Exciting Toni Arden'' ( Harmony, HL 7212) *1963 ''Italian Gold'' ( Decca Records, DL 4375) *1964 ''Stars for Defense'' ( Office of Civil Defense) *1968 ''The Life of Christ'' ( Manor Records, MRS 201) *2004 ''Al Trace and his Musicians featuring Toni Arden'' ( Circle Records, CCD-109) *2005 ''I Can Dream, Can't I?'' (

, JASCD 644) *2005 ''This Is Toni Arden'' (Sepia Records, SEPIA 1050) *2012 ''Besame!'' (Sepia Records, SEPIA 1188) *2021 ''The Toni Arden Collection 1944-61'' (Acrobat Music, ADDCD3375) *xxxx ''Toni Arden In American Love Songs'' ( Tiara Records, TST 525) *xxxx ''The Bing Crosby Show'' (Redmond Nostalgia, CD-172)

Compilation/Appearances

*1957 ''Meet the Girls'' (

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, 50254), with ''Two Loves'' and ''Let's Be Sweethearts Again'' *1959 ''The Girl Friends'' ( Harmony, HL 7148), with ''A Little Love a Little Kiss'' and ''I Can Dream, Can't I?'' *xxxx ''America's Sweethearts featuring

Kitty Kallen Kitty Kallen (born Katie Kallen; May 25, 1921 – January 7, 2016) was an American popular singer whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s, to include the Swing era of the Big Band years, the post-World War II pop scene and the early ...

, Toni Arden, Fran Warren'' (Viking, VK 019) *xxxx ''The Girl Friends'' (American Radio Transcription Library, A.R.T. 118), with ''All of Me'' *xxxx ''American Vocal Parade II'' (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, B 07643 R), with ''F'r Instance'' *xxxx ''Music from Latin America'' ( Decca Records, DL 38078), with ''Medley: La Paloma, La Golondrina'' *xxxx ''

Buitoni Buitoni () is an Italian food company based in Sansepolcro. It was founded in 1827. They are known for their factory-produced products of pasta and sauces. In 1985, the Buitoni family sold the company to Carlo De Benedetti; in 1988, it was acqu ...

Presents Souvenir of Italy'' ( Decca Records, DL 38291), with ''Medley: Vieni su - Vicini u mare - Drigo's Serenade'' and ''Fa la nana bambin''

Death

She died at her home in

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

, on May 29, 2012 at the age of 88.

References

External links

*Toni Arden bio o
Saxony Records
site *Image gallery from Toni Arden's career a
Saxony Records
site {{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Toni 1924 births 2012 deaths Traditional pop music singers American women pop singers RCA Victor artists Decca Records artists People from Lake Worth Beach, Florida Columbia Records artists Mercury Records artists 21st-century American women