Mel Torme
Mel Torme
Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, best known as a singer of jazz standards. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, drummer, and actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books. He composed the music for the classic holiday song "The Christmas Song"and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionJazz Singer
Date of Birth13 September 1925
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
There are musicians in my business who are very dour people, who are angry for one reason or another, who are malcontents or whatever.
Whereas a musician is luckier; a lot of times, the reflection of what he is as a human being is not even remotely carried through in what he plays.
I want to sing for the broadest possible audience.
Right now, my career is in three directions: as a performer, as an arranger, as an author - and I don't give any one of them true precedent, or true top marks, as opposed to the other two.
Whenever I did a good performance, my Dad and my uncles, who were rabid movie fans, took me to the movies. There began my underlying love affair with film.
Because Chicago was to radio what Hollywood was to films and Broadway was to the theatre: it was the hub of radio.
As regards my feelings about drummers - there's Buddy Rich, and then there's everybody else.