Throughout most of his long career, Mel Tormé has been known as “the Velvet Fog.” The singer himself never cared much for the nickname, coined for him by radio DJs, but it does give a sense of the uniquely mellow and almost misty quality of his voice. In addition to his vocal talents, Tormé is also a highly accomplished songwriter, pianist, drummer, actor, and author.
Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago on September 13, 1925. By the age of four he was singing on the radio, and by nine he had performed in several radio soap operas. His increasing interest in singing led to a stint from 1942 to 1943 as a vocalist with a band directed by Chico Marx of the Marx Brothers.
In 1943, Tormé appeared in the movie Higher and Higher (in which another illustrious crooner named Frank SINATRA made his starring debut), and formed one of the finest pop vocal groups of the decade, the Mel-Tones. The group recorded with band singer Eugenie Baird (“I Fall in Love Too Easily,” 1945), Artie Shaw’s orchestra (“I Got the Sun in the Morning,” 1946), Bing CROSBY (“Day by Day,” 1946), and under their own name (“It’s Dreamtime,” 1947).
Tormé went solo in 1947, recording several hits for Capitol between 1949 and 1952, including “Careless Hands” (which reached No. 1 in 1949); “Bewitched” (backed by a band led by Stan KENTON), and “The Old Master Painter” (a duet with his regular singing partner Peggy LEE) in 1950. From the early 1950s Tormé was noted less for singles and more for his albums, especially live LPs such as Mel Tormé at the Crescendo (1954), which included his sped-up rendition of Richard RODGERS and Lorenz Hart’s “Mountain Greenery.”
In his later career, Tormé recorded for several labels, producing albums such as Right Now (1966), Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (1970), and An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé (1982), for which the singer won a Grammy Award as best male jazz singer. Tormé often collaborated with his close friend Shearing, whom he described as “mercurial, with the most delicate pianistic touch on this planet.”
The vocalist also made albums with several other top jazz musicians, including drummer Buddy Rich and saxophonist Gerry MULLIGAN. However, the only Top 40 pop single of Tormé’s later career was “Comin’ Home, Baby” (1962).
Tormé also wrote hundreds of songs (both words and music), notably “Lament to Love,” “Born to Be Blue,” “County Fair” and, above all, “The Christmas Song” (the 1946 Nat King COLE hit that begins “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”), one of many tunes he composed with Robert Wells Levinson. Tormé’s critically acclaimed books include My Singing Teachers, a tribute to artists who were his influences, The Other Side of the Rainbow, an account of his TV experiences with Judy GARLAND, and It Wasn’t All Velvet: An Autobiography.
As an actor, Tormé was nominated for an Emmy for his supporting role in the 1956 Playhouse 90 production, The Comedian. In the 1990s Tormé not only carried on performing but also gained new, generation-crossing recognition, appearing on several popular TV sitcoms and becoming the subject of a four-CD box set spanning his career. Though weakened by heart problems, he remains one of pop music and jazz’s most admired elder statesmen.
Michael R. Ross
SEE ALSO:
JAZZ; POPULAR MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Friedwald, Will. Jazz Singing (New York: Da Capo Press, 1996); Tormé, Mel. It Wasn’t All Velvet: An Autobiography (London: Robson, 1989); Tormé, Mel. My Singing Teachers (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
An Evening with George Shearing and Mel Tormé; The Mel Tormé Collection; Mel Tormé Swings Schubert Alley.