Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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GRECO, Buddy

(b Armando Joseph Greco, 14 August 1926, Philadelphia PA; d 10 January 2017, Las Vegas) Pianist, arranger, composer, singer. From a musical family, his father was an opera critic who had a radio show on an Italian-language station. He led a trio '44-9, called the Three Shades of Rhythm when he was a teenager, then The Three Sharps; He joined Benny Goodman '49-52, formed another trio and became best known to the public as a very good cabaret singer who accompanied himself. Will Friedwald described his act as 'Pure swing. Explosive, relentless, insensitive sometimes, almost even annoying swing.' Stephen Holden heard 'about as pure an example of the lounge-music aesthetic as you could find.'

There were many TV spots, his own summer series in the 1960s. He had recorded with Goodman on Capitol, then solo on London, Musicraft (no. 15 hit '47 'Ooh! Look-A There, Ain't She Pretty'), Coral (top 30 hit '51 'I Ran All The Way Home'), Kapp (LP Broadway Melodies: Songs From The Hit Shows); his best-known work was on Epic (albums Buddy's Back In Town, I Like It Swinging, Buddy's Greatest Hits, Sings For Intimate Moments) and Reprise (With Big Bands And Ballads, In A Brand New Bag, Away We Go). His engaging hipness and sheer talent won a loyal following. He had a minor hit with Bobby Vinton's 'Mr Lonely' '62; when Vinton did it himself '64 the label used Greco's music track and it made no. 1.

He came back in the 1990s with Route 66, a tribute to Nat Cole on Candid. He and his wife produced a show in London called Fever! The Music of Miss Peggy Lee in 2010, which toured the USA.