Search - Julius La Rosa :: Golden Classics

Heard all these as a kid--still have them in my cellar!

02/06/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

"For a really good LaRosa album, try "Love Songs A La Rosa" (1960s, Cadence). Simple background, nice vocals, romance without the nookie. Shows up occasionally in the oldies stacks. (Met Julie years ago--really nice guy. Does he still do jazz at Michael's Pub in N.Y.C.?)"

Everyone Liked Him But Godfrey

08/03/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Born in Brooklyn, New York on January 2, 1930, Julius La Rosa first rose to fame as a key member of the highly popular TV show, Arthur Godfrey And His Friends in his two-year stint in 1952/53 (other notables getting their start on that show were The Chordettes, McGuire Sisters, The Mariners, and Pat Boone).



In that span he had four hit singles, This Is Heaven (3 21 Pop) b/w Anywhere I Wander, from the film Hans Christan Andersen, which went to # 4 in March 1953. The follow-up My Lady Loves To Dance topped out at # 21 in May, and the happy Eh, Cumpari went all the way to # 2 in September/ October that year and stayed around on the charts for 20 weeks. All were backed by Archie Bleyer & His Orchestra (also a part of the Godfrey show) and were cut at Bleyer's Cadence Records, which he had just formed.



In fact it was still hovering near the top when that egomaniacal control- freak Godfrey fired LaRosa ON THE AIR on October 19, allegedly for not having enough "humility" (he also fired Bleyer at the same time, and two years later would just as unceremoniously dump Marion Marlowe and a few other lesser lights).



Undaunted, LaRosa and Bleyer would go on to collaborate on two more hits in 1954, taking Three Coins In The Fountain to # 21 in June and Mobile to # 21 in December (the last is omitted here). And, much to Godfrey's chagrin, both the hits and his popularity continued on into 1955, the year R&R barged onto the scene. In July, Domani (Tomorrow) rose to # 13 Billboard Top 100 b/w the hilarious Mama Rosa and, in October, his rendition of Suddenly There's A Valley hit # 20 Top 100 b/w Everytime That I Kiss Carrie (only Mama Rosa is here).



In 1956 Julius parted company with Bleyer and Cadence and switched to RCA Victor where he had hits in 1956 with Lipstick And Candy And Rubbersoled Shoes (# 15 Top 100 in February), I;ve Got Love (# 93 Top 100 in July) and Get Me To The Church On Time, from the Broadway hit My Fair Lady, which topped out at # 89 Top 100 in August. All were backed by Joe Reisman & His Orchestra.



In 1957 he linked with Hugo Winterhalter & His Orchestra and had a # 98 Top 100 with Mama Guitar in April b/w Man To Man, and over a year later scored again with a cover of the Renato Carosone hit, Torero, which peaked at # 21 Top 100 in June 1958 b/w Milano. On these sides he was backed by Nick Perito & His Orchestra.



His last two hits came in 1966 and 1969, the first for MGM when You're Gonna Hear From Me, from the film Inside Daisy Clover, went to # 21 on the Adult Contemporary (AC) charts in June 1966, while the other, for the Crew label, was Where Do I Go? Billed to Julius LaRosa with The Bob Crewe Generation, it made it to # 24 AC in November 1969.



While, like one reviewer, I see nothing wrong with the sound quality of this CD, which covers his Cadence career, I do have to deduct one star simply because, in a compilation labeled "classics" they leeave off the two legitimate hits, Mobile and Domani, while including, at tracks 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15 to 19, selections which were hardly among his classics. Which means both missing hits are probably impossible to find in their original format."

Want to correct my comments of the other day.

02/11/1999

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Love Songs A La Rosa" was on Roulette, not Cadence, for you devoted searchers."