Don Cornell

Don Cornell is one of the longest and last active singers from the big band era. Still performing at the outset of the 21st century, he is a younger contemporary of Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, and one of the last singing stars of the 1950s pre-rock era who has maintained an active career, for 50 years and counting. Born Luigi Francisco Valaro, he entered the music business as a teenager, joining the band of trumpet legend Red Nichols as a guitarist. It was when he was 18, however, that Cornell emerged as a singer and a star, as a member of Sammy Kaye's band, Swing and Sway...