Don Cornell

Balladeer whose hit 'Hold My Hand' was criticised by the Archbishop of Canterbury

Luigi Francisco Varlaro (Don Cornell), singer: born New York 21 April 1919; twice married (two children, two stepchildren); died Aventura, Florida 23 February 2004.

In the 1940s and 1950s, a clutch of Italian-American balladeers, mostly coming from New York, achieved international success. They included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett and Don Cornell. Cornell's warm baritone was appreciated by millions and he topped the UK charts for four weeks with "Hold My Hand" in 1954.

He was born Luigi Francisco Varlaro in the Bronx district of New York in 1919. His father, Michael, was a tailor who struggled to keep five children on $12 a week. Luigi, as the youngest, lived on hand-me-downs but an uncle gave him a guitar, and his father, who played the mandolin, taught him how to play it.

As a teenager, Luigi Varlaro was a singing waiter at the Embassy Club, a haunt for noted jazz musicians opposite the Bronx Zoo. He hoped to be discovered, and he was, but not as he expected. He fought someone over a racist remark and a boxing promoter was so impressed by his innate skill that he invited Varlaro to be a sparring partner for his clients. He proved better than his opponents and was soon fighting professionally. He won 20 fights and then, in what could have been the inspiration for the film Pulp Fiction, he walked away when he was asked to throw a fight for gambling money.

Varlaro worked as a guitarist in Red Nichols' Five Pennies, but he was soon concentrating on singing. He was spotted by the bandleader Sammy Kaye, and was asked to deputise for his singer and guitarist, Tommy Ryan, although that post quickly became permanent. Kaye thought his name was cumbersome and introduced him one night as "Don Cornell" without telling him first. He based the name on his former trumpet player, Dale Cornell. Kaye, however, was very much the star of the orchestra, which was promoted with the tagline, "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye".

The bandleader taught Cornell and the rest of the orchestra the importance of a highly professional approach - everyone was well-groomed and Kaye would inspect their fingernails and the polish on their shoes. Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra were popular and Cornell sang the vocal on a No 3 US hit, "I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen" (1942).

After war service in the air force, Cornell returned to Kaye and sang on a succession of hit records - "That's My Desire" (a US No 3 that was in the charts for five months in 1947), "An Apple Blossom Wedding", "Serenade of the Bells", "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise", "Careless Hands" (a UK hit for Des O'Connor in 1967) and, with the Kaydets, the sentimental ballad "Room Full of Roses". Cornell's best-known record with Kaye was "It Isn't Fair", a No 2 in the US in 1950.

Following the lead of so many dance band singers, Don Cornell went solo in 1950. He had reasonable success during two years with RCA, including "Ask Me No Questions" (with Mindy Carson) and "I Need You So". He moved to Coral in 1952 but they did not have a UK outlet for their releases. As a result, Eddie Fisher had a UK hit with Cornell's American success, "I'll Walk Alone".

His other American hits included "This is the Beginning of the End", and two duets with Teresa Brewer, "You'll Never Get Away" and "The Glad Song". He was teamed with two other vocalists on Coral, Alan Dale and Johnny Desmond for "Heart of My Heart". It was not until 1954 that his 18th Coral release at last secured a UK release, "Believe In Me": the second UK release became his most successful record, "Hold My Hand".

In 1954 Jack Lawrence and Richard Meyers wrote "Hold My Hand" for a light-hearted film, Susan Slept Here, about a Hollywood scriptwriter (Dick Powell) and a delinquent girl (Debbie Reynolds). Cornell's record is put on the player by Reynolds as she makes breakfast in Powell's apartment. The powerful ballad received an Oscar nomination, but lost to "Three Coins in the Fountain". "Hold My Hand" went to No 2 in the US, but topped the UK charts despite competition from Lorrae Desmond, Ronnie Harris and Gary Miller and a campaign against it.

The BBC objected to the line, "This is the kingdom of heaven", although now it is hard to fathom why they thought it profane. An amended line, "This is the wonder of heaven", was agreed and, by overdubbing, Cornell recorded a revised version for airplay. The purchased record still contained the original words, although the sheet music gave the lyric as "This is the wonder of heaven".

When Cornell came to the UK on tour, he learnt that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, had criticised his record. "It was all over the newspapers," said Cornell,

and I was so annoyed that I broke some furniture in front of the press. The headline was "Archbishop of Canterbury Angers US Singing Star". The audiences were wonderful: they would shout out, "Sing your banned song, Donny boy!"

Although Don Cornell had further US hits in 1955 ("Most of All" / "The Door Is Still Open to My Heart", "The Bible Tells Me So" / "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" and "Young Abe Lincoln"), they made no impression in the UK. He returned to the UK Top Twenty in 1956 with another "hold my hand" song, "Stranger In Paradise".

When the hits stopped, Cornell toured the United States with The Pajama Game, A Streetcar Named Desire and other well-known productions. In 1963 he was among the first stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and, in 1993, he was elected to the Big Band Hall of Fame. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, he was performing in night-clubs and making occasional guest appearances, including parts in the television series Miami Vice and B.L. Stryker with Burt Reynolds. He recorded a poignant song about the US involvement in Vietnam, "I Don't Want to Play No More".

In 1979 Cornell moved to Florida in semi-retirement and spent his time playing golf with his old friend Perry Como. His second wife and biggest fan, Iris, encouraged him back to singing and he combined business with pleasure by performing on cruise liners. He recorded the albums If I Never Sing Another Song (1994) and Don Cornell Now (1995) and his wife, through Iris Records, issued a comprehensive double CD of his old recordings, Something to Remember Me By (1996).

Spencer Leigh