Buddy Clark

Buddy Clark

Clark in a 1942 advertisement
Background information
Birth name Samuel Goldberg
Born (1912-07-26)July 26, 1912
Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States
Died October 1, 1949(1949-10-01) (aged 37)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Traditional pop
Years active 1934–1949
Labels Columbia
Website Buddy Clark biography on the Interlude Era site

Buddy Clark (July 26, 1912 - October 1, 1949) was an American popular singer of the 1930s and 1940s. In the late 1940s, after his return from service in World War II, his career blossomed and he became one of the nation's top crooners. He died in a plane crash in 1949.

Life and career

Clark was born Samuel Goldberg to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1932 as a tenor, with Gus Arnheim's orchestra, but was not successful. Singing baritone, he gained wider notice in 1934, with Benny Goodman on the Let's Dance radio program. In 1936 he began performing on the show Your Hit Parade, and remained until 1938. In the mid-1930s he signed with Vocalion Records, having a top-20 hit with "Spring Is Here". He continued recording, appearing in movies, and dubbing other actors' voices until he entered the military, but did not have another hit until the late 1940s.

In 1946 he signed with Columbia Records and scored his biggest hit with the song "Linda" recorded in November of that year, but hitting its peak in the following spring. "Linda" was written especially for the six-year-old daughter of a show business lawyer named Lee Eastman, whose client, songwriter Jack Lawrence, wrote the song at Lee’s request. Upon reaching adulthood, Linda became famous as a photographer, a musician (as a member of Wings, the 1970s band headed by her husband, former Beatle Paul McCartney), and a prominent spokeswoman for animal rights.[1]

1947 also saw hits for Clark with such titles as "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" (from the musical Finian's Rainbow), which made the Top Ten, "Peg O' My Heart", "An Apple Blossom Wedding", and "I'll Dance at Your Wedding". The following year he had another major hit with "Love Somebody" (a duet with Doris Day, selling a million and reaching #1 on the charts) and nine more chart hits, and extended his success into 1949 with a number of hits, both solo and duetting with Day and Dinah Shore. A month after his death, his recording of "A Dreamer's Holiday" hit the charts.

Death

On Saturday, October 1, 1949, hours after the 37-year-old had completed a Club Fifteen broadcast on CBS Radio with The Andrews Sisters—subbing for ailing host Dick Haymes—Clark joined five friends in renting a small plane to attend a Stanford vs. Michigan State college football game. On the way back to Los Angeles after the game, the plane ran out of fuel, lost altitude, and crashed on Beverly Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Clark didn't survive the crash. Clark's last radio broadcast found him in very high spirits, clowning with Maxene, LaVerne, and Patty Andrews. He joined them for a comical rendition of "Baby Face," during which Buddy amused the CBS studio audience, as well as the famous swing trio of sisters, with his spot-on Al Jolson impression.[2]

He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California in the Everlasting Love section, Lot 810, Space 1.[3][4][5] He's buried near his widow, Nedra Sanders Clark Broccoli (February 28, 1919 – September 23, 1958), who married producer, Albert R. Broccoli two years after his death. She died from bladder cancer.[6] Both are interred near their daughter, Penny (June 5, 1943 – August 14, 1950), who was struck by an automobile in Brentwood.[7]

Jerry Vale's first album, I Remember Buddy (1958), was a tribute to Clark.[8][9]

For his contributions to the music industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 6800 Hollywood Boulevard.[10]

Hit songs

References

  1. ↑ Salewicz, Chris, McCartney (Macdonald, 1986), p. 198; Lee, Laura, The Name's Families: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boyardee (Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1999), p. 293.
  2. ↑ Salewicz, Chris, McCartney (Macdonald, 1986), p. 198; Lee, Laura, The Name's Families: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boyardee (Pelican Publishing Company, Inc., 1999), p. 293.
  3. ↑ "Buddy Clark (1912 - 1949) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  4. ↑ "Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, CA". www.nndb.com. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  5. ↑ "Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) – Forest Lawn Glendale Museum". The Museum. 2015-08-21. Retrieved 2015-12-27.
  6. ↑ "Nedra Sanders Broccoli (1919 - 1958) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  7. ↑ "Penny Clark (1943 - 1950) - Find A Grave Memorial". www.findagrave.com. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
  8. ↑ I Remember Buddy at AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  9. ↑ I Remember Buddy at AllMusic. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Buddy Clark". latimes.com. Retrieved 2016-04-10.

Further reading

External links

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