Columbia, 1967.
vinyl condition: VG
Listen to the song.
In high school, Jerry Vale took a job shining shoes in a barbershop, singing while he worked. His boss liked the sound so well that he paid for music lessons for the boy. Soon after, Vale began singing in high school musicals and at a local nightclub.
Vale's early nightclub performances led to additional shows in the early 1950s, including one lasting for three years at the Enchanted Room, a club in Yonkers, New York. When Paul Insetta (road manager for singer Guy Mitchell) heard him there, he signed him to a management contract and further coached him. Insetta arranged for Vale to record some demonstration records of songs he'd written, and he brought them to Columbia Records. Guy Mitchell introduced Vale to Mitch Miller, then head of A&R at Columbia Records.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, he reached the top of the pop charts with his interpretations of romantic ballads, including a cover of Eddy Arnold's hit YOU DON'T KNOW ME and HAVE YOU LOOKED INTO YOUR HEART. Vale, who was of Italian descent, sang numerous songs in Italian, many of which were later used in soundtracks by films of Martin Scorsese.
His version of THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER, recorded in late 1963, was a fixture at many sporting events for years, and the gold record Vale received was displayed at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Vale frequently sang the song at Yankee Stadium.