Vic Damone

Vic Damone, the postwar crooner whose intimate, rhapsodic voice captivated bobby soxers, middle-age dreamers and silver-haired romantics in a five-decade medley of America’s love songs and popular standards, died on Sunday February 11 2018 in Miami Beach. He was 89. Mr. Damone suffered a mild stroke in 2000 but recovered and retired in 2001 after a farewell tour. He came out of retirement a decade later to give one last performance in Palm Beach, Fla., where he lived. After winning on the radio show “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” in 1947, he recorded some 2,500 songs over 54 years. He had his own radio and television programs, made movies, survived rock ′n’ roll and its noisy offspring and became a mainstay of the Las Vegas Strip, and nightclubs. Along the way, he made millions, entertained presidents and royalty, refused a part in “The Godfather,” married five times, had four children and underwent analysis. He also survived a brush with the mob, four divorces, a custody fight over his only son and the suicides of two former wives. He was born Vito Farinola on June 12, 1928, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the only son among the five children of Rocco Farinola and the former Mamie Damone. His father was an electrician, and his mother taught piano. He loved singing and was spellbound by Sinatra. When his father was disabled on the job, he quit Lafayette High School to help support the family. He became an usher at the Paramount Theater in Manhattan, where teenagers were squealing for Sinatra. In 1954, he married the actress Pier Angeli. They were divorced in 1959, but for six years battled over custody of their son. Ms. Angeli committed suicide in 1971. In 1963, Mr. Damone married Judy Rawlins, with whom he had three daughters. They were divorced in 1971, and she killed herself in 1974. His marriage to Rebecca Ann Jones, in 1974, also ended in divorce. He married the singer and actress Diahann Carroll in 1987, and they divorced in 1996. In 1998 he married Rena Rowan, co-founder of the apparel line Jones New York. Ms. Rowan died in 2016 after a stroke. He is survived by three daughters, Victoria Damone, Andrea Damone-Browne and Daniella Damone-Woodard; two sisters, Elaine Seneca and Terry Sicuso; and six grandchildren. His son, Perry, died in 2014.