Guy Lombardo

Gaetano Alberto Guy Lombardo was a CanadianAmerican bandleader and violinist Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen Lebert and Victor and other musicians from his hometown They billed themselves as creating the sweetest music this side of Heaven The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million records during their lifetimes many featuring the bands lead singer Kenny Gardner Lombardo was born in London Ontario to Italian immigrants Gaetano Alberto and Angelina Lombardo His father was an amateur singer with a baritone voice and had four of his five sons learn to play instruments so they could accompany him Lombardo and his brothers formed their first orchestra while still in grammar school and rehearsed in the back of their fathers tailor shop Lombardo first performed in public with his brother Carmen at a church lawn party in London in 1914 Lombardo became a naturalized citizen of the United States Although Lombardos sweet bigband music was viewed by some in the jazz and bigband community of the day as boring mainstream pap trumpeter Louis Armstrong regularly named Lombardos band his favorite orchestra Lombardo is remembered for almost a halfcentury of New Years Eve big band remotes first on radio then on television His orchestra played at the Roosevelt Grill in the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City from 1929 radios first nationwide New Years Eve broadcast to 1959 and from then until 1976 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Live broadcasts and later telecasts of their performances were a large part of New Years celebrations across North America millions of people watched the show with friends at house parties Because of this popularity Lombardo was called Mr New Years Eve The bands first New Years Eve radio broadcast was in 1928 within a few years they were heard live on the CBS Radio Network before midnight Eastern Time then on the NBC Radio Network after midnight On December 31 1956 the Lombardo band did their first New Years TV special on CBS the program and Lombardos 20 subsequent New Years Eve TV shows included a live segment from Times Square Although CBS carried most of the Lombardo New Years specials there were a few years in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the special was syndicated live to individual TV stations instead of broadcast on a network By the middle 1970s the Lombardo TV show was facing competition especially for younger viewers from Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve but Lombardo remained famous among viewers especially older ones Even after Lombardos death the bands New Years specials continued for two more years on CBS The Royal Canadians recording of the traditional song Auld Lang Syne still plays as the first song of the new year in Times Square followed by New York New York by Frank Sinatra America the Beautiful by Ray Charles What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and Over the Rainbow by IZ Lombardo and his orchestra were part of the 1934 film Many Happy Returns and clips of his own show appeared in the 1977 film Looking for Mr Goodbar starring Diane Keaton On November 5 1977 Lombardo died of a heart attack He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles