Perry Como

Born Pierino Ronald Como, Perry was the seventh son of a seventh son in a family of 13 children, and he started helping out in the local barber shop to earn extra money for the family at the age of 10. At 14, with no professional barber school training, he had his own shop with two barbers working for him. He worked there after school well into the nights. Young Como was also playing the Sousaphone in the town marching band. It was in 1933 that he got the job with Freddy Carlone. It was also the year he married his childhood sweetheart Roselle Belline.

Como toured with the Carlone band for three years through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio until one night in a casino in Warren, Ohio, he struck luck on stage. Band leader Ted Weems happened to be there and offered him a spot with his crew. Como almost went back to cutting hair in December 1943 when Ted Weems entered the armed forces to serve in World War II and the orchestra disbanded. He was negotiating a lease for the barber shop in Canonsburg when he got an offer from CBS to star in his own radio show.

That same year, established with his wife and three-year-old son and 15-minute nightly radio show in New York, he landed engagements at the Copacabana and Versaille nightclubs and the Paramount and Strand Theaters. He also signed a recording contract with RCA Victor.

From 1950 to 1955, his 15-minute "The Perry Como Show" was broadcast on CBS. From 1955 to 1959, an expanded version with the same title appeared on NBC. From then until 1963, his weekly television show was "The Kraft Music Hall." At that point, he quit "the weekly grind" and opted for occasional specials taped from various parts of the world. He won Emmy Awards in 1954, 1955, 1956, and 1958-59. In 1956, he also won a Christopher Award and was named Variety Club's personality of the year.