Tony Martin

Born Alvin Morris, the son of immigrants from Poland, 'Tony Martin' (qv) received a soprano saxophone on his tenth birthday. In his grammar school glee club, he became an instrumentalist and soprano pop singer. When in high school, he then formed his first band called "The Red Peppers", eventually joining a local orchestra leader, Tom Gerun, as a reed instrument specialist, sitting along with a future band leader, 'Woody Herman' (qv).In the mid-1930s, Martin left Gerun to go to Hollywood, where he would go under his stage name, "'Tony Martin' (qv)". in 1937, Martin married 'Alice Faye' (qv). After their divorce, he married 'Cyd Charisse' (qv) in 1948 - a marriage which lasted sixty years.Martin starred in hit movies such as _Follow the Fleet (1936)_ (qv), _The Farmer in the Dell (1936)_ (qv), _Pigskin Parade (1936)_ (qv), _The Holy Terror (1937)_ (qv), _Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)_ (qv), _The Big Store (1941)_ (qv), _Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)_ (qv), _Casbah (1948)_ (qv), _Clash by Night (1952)_ (qv), where he is heard on the soundtrack singing "I Hear A Rhapsody", and _Hit the Deck (1955)_ (qv). His numerous signature standard hits include "Kiss Of Fire", "I Get Ideas", "Some Day", "Fools Rush In" and "There's No Tomorrow", for which he is possibly best remembered. From 1954-56, he hosted a weekly 15 minute variety series on NBC-TV. Over the next 40 years, he was a guest on the TV variety series of 'Jack Benny' (qv), 'Dinah Shore' (qv), 'Milton Berle' (qv), 'Merv Griffin' (qv), 'Dean Martin' (qv), 'Nat 'King' Cole' (qv), 'David Frost' (qv), 'Barbara McNair' (qv), 'Johnny Carson' (qv) and 'Ed Sullivan' (qv). He has had many TV acting roles, as well.::rocknrollunderdawg/efffee@aol.com