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

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, 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 ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

Family

Arden was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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

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

and

La Scala La Scala (, , ; officially , ) is a historic opera house in Milan, Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as (, which previously was Santa Maria della Scala, Milan, a church). The premiere performa ...

. 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 and ...

singer in the 1940s, singing with

Al Trace Albert J. Trace ''(aka'' Albert Joseph Trace; ''né'' Feinberg; 25 December 1900 – 31 August 1993) was an American songwriter and orchestra leader of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. His popularity peaked in the Chicago area during the height of the ...

, Joe Reichman,

Ray Bloch Raymond Arthur Bloch (August 3, 1902 – March 29, 1982) was an American composer, songwriter, conductor, pianist, author and arranger. He is best remembered as the arranger and orchestra conductor for ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' during its entire run ...

and

Shep Fields Shep Fields (born Saul Feldman, September 12, 1910 – February 23, 1981) was an American bandleader who led the Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm orchestra during the 1930s. His distinctive Rippling Rhythm sound was featured on big band remo ...

Recording

She started

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

as a soloist in 1946 for the minor National Records 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 in television, 1947, to July 11, 1949 in television, 1949. Overview The series used early television scene-ble ...

'', Arden signed her first

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with a major

record label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, 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 A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

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. In the mid-1950s she moved to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, 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 RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

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. Mercury Records released ...

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

Radio

In 1952, Arden appeared in episode 55 of the ''Big Show'' with

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lifeboat (194 ...

. 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 or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

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 (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

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. ...

'', '' The Dick Clark Show'', and '' The Jimmy Dean Show''. 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 City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' in 1959.

Albums

*1955 ''Shep Fields and his Orchestra with Toni Arden'' (Royale, 18142) *1958 ''Miss Toni Arden'' (

, DL 8651) *1958 ''Sing a Song of Italy'' (

, DL 8765) *1959 ''Besame!'' (

, DL 8875) *1959 ''The Exciting Toni Arden'' (

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

, HL 7212) *1963 ''Italian Gold'' (

, 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?'' ( Jasmine Records, 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 albums (appearances on)

*1957 ''Meet the Girls'' (

Halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

, 50254), with "Two Loves" and "Let's Be Sweethearts Again" *1959 ''The Girl Friends'' (

, 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 singer whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s, including the Swing era of the Big Band years, the post-World War II pop scene, and the early years ...

, 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. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, B 07643 R), with "F'r Instance" *xxxx ''Music from Latin America'' (

, DL 38078), with "Medley: La Paloma, La Golondrina" *xxxx '' Buitoni Presents Souvenir of Italy'' (

, 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 Wort ...

, 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