Tormé, Mel(vin Howard)

(born Sept. 13, 1925, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died June 5, 1999, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. singer, composer, and actor. Tormé began his career playing drums and singing with Chico Marx's band (1942–43). In 1943 he made his film debut in Higher and Higher; the same year he formed a quintet, Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones. “Blue Moon,” which he sang in the film Words and Music (1948), became his first solo hit and one of his signature tunes. Tormé was one of the great interpreters of ballads in jazz, capable of inspired improvised scat singing. As a songwriter, he is best known for “The Christmas Song.” His smooth vocal timbre is reflected in his sobriquet, “the Velvet Fog.”

Tormé, (Melvin Howard) Mel (1925– ) vocalist, composer, author; born in Chicago. He was involved in show business from age four, singing with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra in 1929 and Buddy Rogers in the early 1930s. He studied drums and songwriting while acting in radio soap operas between 1934–40. His first song, "Lament to Love," was recorded by Harry James in 1941. "The Christmas Song" and "Born to be Blue" are among his other songs. In 1942–43, he sang and played drums with Chico Marx, then led his own vocal group, the Mel-Tones, in California until 1947. Thereafter, as the epitome of Cool School jazz singers, he toured as a headlining concert performer and recorded a string of hit records throughout the 1950s. He also appeared as an actor in numerous dramatic television series. He is the author of biographies of Judy Garland and Buddy Rich, and an autobiography, It Wasn't All Velvet.