Article

Carmen Lombardo

Published Online July 26, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Carmen Lombardo. Saxophonist, singer, songwriter, b London, Ont, 16 Jul 1903, d Miami 17 Apr 1971. He was a brother of Guy Lombardo. He studied flute in London and played flute and C-melody saxophone in western Ontario with the Lombardo Brothers' Orchestra and Concert Company in his teens.

Lombardo, Carmen

Carmen Lombardo. Saxophonist, singer, songwriter, b London, Ont, 16 Jul 1903, d Miami 17 Apr 1971. He was a brother of Guy Lombardo. He studied flute in London and played flute and C-melody saxophone in western Ontario with the Lombardo Brothers' Orchestra and Concert Company in his teens. At 19 he worked in Detroit as an alto saxophonist with the Wolverine Hotel orchestra. A founder and a member 1923-70 of Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, he was the orchestra's music director, lead saxophonist, and, until 1940, a reluctant featured singer. His vocal and saxophone styles, both characterized by a smooth vibrato, were widely imitated and often satirized.

Lombardo was also a prolific songwriter and, in collaboration with various US lyricists and composers (most notably John Jacob Loeb), provided the Royal Canadians with such hits as 'Coquette' (Feist 1928), 'Sweethearts on Parade' (Mayfair/Charles Newman 1928), 'Boo-Hoo' (Ahlert-Burke/Flojan/Frank 1937), 'Sailboat in the Moonlight' (De Sylva, Brown, and Henderson 1937), and 'Get Out Those Old Records' (Lombardo 1950). Many of his songs, introduced by the Royal Canadians, were performed successfully or recorded by other popular artists. Notable were 'Snuggled on Your Shoulder' (Feist/Warock 1931) and 'Ridin' around in the Rain' (Anne-Rachel 1934) sung by Bing Crosby, 'Seems Like Old Times' (Feist 1946), the theme song for Arthur Godfrey's radio program, 'Powder Your Face with Sunshine' (Lombardo 1948) sung by Evelyn Knight, and 'Return to Me' (Southern 1957) sung by Dean Martin. Also with Loeb, Lombardo wrote the words and music for Guy Lombardo's stage productions of Arabian Nights (1954, 1955), Paradise Island (1961, 1962), and Mardi Gras (1965, 1966) at Jones Beach, NY.