Johnny Desmond
| Johnny Desmond | |
|---|---|
Desmond in 1953.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Giovanni Alfredo De Simone |
| Born |
November 14, 1919 Detroit, Michigan, US |
| Died | September 6, 1985 (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, US |
| Genres | traditional pop |
| Years active | 1939–1950s |
| Labels | Decca, Okeh, Columbia, RCA Victor, MGM, Coral |
| Website | Susan Liddell's Johnny Desmond Fan site |
Johnny Desmond (November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985), born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone, was an American popular music singer.
He was born in Detroit, Michigan; and as a boy, sang on a local radio station, but at age 15 he quit to work at his father's grocery. He still retained a love of music, however, and briefly attended the Detroit Conservatory of Music before heading to the nightclub circuit, playing piano and singing.
In 1939 he formed his own singing group. The group was first called the Downbeats, but after being hired to work with Bob Crosby's big band in 1940, it was renamed the Bob-O-Links. The group appeared on 15 commercial recordings by the Crosby orchestra, including two charted hits, "You Forgot About Me" (which reached No. 15), and "Do You Care?" (No. 18).
In the middle of 1941 Desmond decided to leave the Bob-O-Links to go solo. He became the featured vocalist for Gene Krupa's band, replacing Howard Dulaney, in September, recording over a dozen songs, the last of which was "All Those Wonderful Years", a song from the movie Keep 'em Flying, which reached No. 21 on the US charts.
In 1942 he enlisted in the United States Army, but his military service was in fact a continuation of his singing career. He was a member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra and from November 1943 until some time in 1944 he toured Europe, mainly serving as a replacement for Tony Martin. He made a number of radio broadcasts with the Miller band and was even given his own show by the British Broadcasting Corporation, "A Soldier and a Song."
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