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Picardy Picardie
—  Region of France  —
Country	France
Prefecture	Amiens
Departments	3 Aisne Oise Somme
Government
• President	Claude Gewerc (PS)
Area
• Total	19,399 km2 (7,490 sq mi)
Population (2007-01-01)
• Total	1,890,000
• Density	97/km2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
NUTS Region	FR2
Website	cr-picardie.fr

Picardy (French: Picardie, French pronunciation: [pikaʁdi]) is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.

History[link]

The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department. The province of Artois (Arras area) separated Picardy from French Flanders.

Middle Ages[link]

Flag and coat of arms of the region of Picardy

In the 5th century the area was occupied by the Franks, and in the feudal period it encompassed the six countships of Boulogne, Montreuil, Ponthieu, Amiénois, Vermandois, and Laonnois.^[1]

The name "Picardy" (which may have referred to a Frankish tribe of picards or pike-bearers) was not used until the 12th or 13th century. During this time, the name applied to all lands where the Picard language was spoken, which included all the territories from Paris to the Netherlands.^[2] In the Latin Quarter of Paris, people identified a "Picard Nation" (Nation Picarde) of students at Sorbonne University, most of whom actually came from Flanders.^[3]

Modern era[link]

In the 16th century, the gouvernement (military region) of Picardy was created. This became a new administrative region of France, separate from what was historically defined as Picardy. The new Picardy included the Somme département, the northern half of the Aisne département, and a small fringe in the north of the Oise département.

In the 17th century, an infectious disease similar to English sweat originated from the region and spread across France. It was called Suette des picards or Picardy sweat.^[4]

Sugar beet was introduced by Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, in order to counter the United Kingdom, which had seized the sugar islands possessed by France in the Caribbean. The sugar industry has continued to play a prominent role in the economy of the region.^[5]

One of the most significant historical events to occur in Picardy was the series of battles fought along the Somme during World War I. From September 1914 to August 1918, four major battles, including the Battle of the Somme, were fought by British, French, and German forces in the fields of Northern Picardy.^[6]

Picardy today[link]

In 2009, the Regional Committee for local government reform proposed to reduce the number of French regions and cancel out additions of new regions in the near future. Picardy impacted by the reform would have disappeared and each department would have joined a nearby region. The Oise would have been incorporated in the Île-de-France, the Somme would have been incorporated in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Aisne would have been incorporated in the Champagne-Ardenne. The vast majority of Picards were opposed to this proposal and it was scrapped in 2010 (see newspaper: "Courrier Picard").

Today, the modern region of Picardy no longer includes the coastline from Berck to Calais, via Boulogne (Boulonais), that is now in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, but does incorporate the pays of Beauvaisis, Valois, Noyonnais, Laonnois, Soissonnais, Omois, among other departments of France. The older definition of Picardy survives in the name of the Picard language, which applies not only to the dialects of Picardy proper, but also to the Romance dialects spoken in the Nord-Pas de Calais région, north of Picardy proper, and parts of the Belgian province of Hainaut.

Geography[link]

Landscape in Picardy

The Picard (inhabitant and traditionally Picard language speakers) cultural heritage includes some of the most extraordinary Gothic churches (Amiens and Beauvais cathedrals or Saint-Quentin basilica), distinctive local cuisine (including ficelle picarde, flamiche aux poireaux, tarte au maroilles), beer (including from Péronne's brewery) and traditional games and sports, such as the longue paume (ancestor of tennis), as well as danses picardes and its own bagpipes, called the pipasso.

Between the 1990 and 1999 censuses, the population of Oise increased 0.61% per year (almost twice as fast as France as a whole), while the Aisne department lost inhabitants, and the Somme barely grew with a 0.16% growth per year. Today, 41.3% of the population of Picardy live inside the Oise department.

Picardy stretches from the long sand beaches of the Somme estuary in the west to the vast forests and pastures of the Thiérache in the east and down to the chateaux of Chantilly or Pierrefonds near the Paris Area and vineyards of the border with Champagne (Champagne picarde) to the south.

Administration[link]

The president of the regional council is Claude Gewerc, a Socialist in office since 2004. That year he defeated longtime UDF incumbent Gilles de Robien.

Since 2008, the mayor of the city of Amiens, the regional capital, has been Socialist Gilles Demailly. He defeated longtime mayor Gilles de Robien of the New Centre party.

Distinctive brick building style demonstrated on a monument in Somme, Picardy

Language and culture[link]

Historically, the region of Picardy has a strong and proud cultural identity. The Picard (the local inhabitant and traditionally Picard language speakers) cultural heritage includes some of the most extraordinary Gothic churches (Amiens and Beauvais cathedrals or Saint-Quentin basilica), distinctive local cuisine (including ficelle picarde, flamiche aux poireaux, tarte au maroilles), beer (including from Péronne's de Clercq brewery) and traditional games and sports, such as the longue paume (ancestor of tennis), as well as danses picardes and its own bagpipes, called the pipasso.

The villages of Picardy have a distinct character, with their houses made of red bricks, often accented with a "lace" of white bricks. A minority of people still speak the Picard language, one of the languages of France, which is also spoken in Artois (Nord-Pas de Calais région). "P'tit quinquin", a Picard song, is a symbol of the local culture (and of that of Artois).

Major communities[link]

• Abbeville
• Amiens
• Beauvais
• Compiègne
• Creil
• Laon
• Saint-Quentin
• Soissons

In popular culture[link]

• The song Roses of Picardy is a ballad written in 1916 during World War I. In 1927, the song title was used as the title of the silent British film of the same name.

References[link]

External links[link]

• (French) Official regional council website
• (English) Picardy, brief guide to the region and attractions
• (English) Pictures of Picardy
• (English) photos from Southern Picardy

Coordinates: 49°30′N 2°50′E / 49.5°N 2.833°E / 49.5; 2.833

Diz Disley (27 May 1931 – 22 March 2010) was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

Biography[link]

William C. Disley was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada,^[1] and was brought up in Ingleton, North Yorkshire, England. In his childhood, he learnt to play the banjo, but took up the jazz guitar at the age of 14, after hearing the playing of Django Reinhardt. Karl Dallas^[2] wrote:

Diz himself studied art in Leeds, but he'd played music since he was 12, starting with chords of "Miss Annabelle Lee" in A on the ukelele, living in Ingleton in the Dales. It was a good year for music at Leeds College of Art... Diz was playing banjo in the college band, the Vernon Street Ramblers, and he was asked to join the slightly more prestigious Yorkshire Jazz Band, which brought him to London and the Mick Mulligan-George Melly rave-ups.

Dallas reported that later, Disley played in Ken Colyer's band.

In the sleeve notes for Norry Greenwood & The Craven Hot Club's Sweet and Swinging CD (G8INA-CD003, 1999), Disley wrote:

I had a cheap guitar and a deep desire to play it, but no idea what to do. Norry had a magnificent prewar danceband model, from which he drew beautiful chords. This generous young man took me in hand and started to show me a few things, I remember the first tunes he taught me - "Miss Annabel lee" and "Try a Little Tenderness", in our small back garden in New Road, Ingleton. That would have been the summer of 1946. Norry also possessed a pile of Django Reinhardt records and turned me on to the genius of this great man. That's what got me going in music, and eventually got me playing with a lot of good people from Acker Bilk to Yehudi Menuhin, and touring all over the world. For this amazingly enjoyable and interesting life I owe everything to my old friend Norry Greenwood.

(D. Harris, Producer, G8 Studios)

In the sleeve notes for I Got Rhythm (1974) Alun Morgan wrote:

Guitarist Diz Disley leads the Hot Club Trio and has been prominent in British jazz circles since the end of the nineteen-forties. Disley played banjo with the famed Yorkshire Jazz Band in 1949 and 1950 at a time when the band had Dickie Hawdon on trumpet... Disley formed his String Quintet in 1958 with a library based largely on that of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France ; Diz's companion on many of the sessions was guitarist Denny Wright and the two have remained firm friends.

Disley did his National Service in the Army from 1950–1953 and then moved to London, where he joined Mick Mulligan's band, along with George Melly.^[3] Melly described him as having "a beard and [...] the face of a satyr en route to a cheerful orgy".^[3] In January 1963, the British music magazine, NME reported that the biggest trad jazz event to be staged in Britain had taken place at Alexandra Palace. The event included George Melly, Alex Welsh, Acker Bilk, Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Ken Colyer, Monty Sunshine, Bob Wallis, Bruce Turner, Mick Mulligan and Disley.^[4]

That same year Diz played the conductor in the Harrison Marks' film The Chimney Sweeps (1963), a slapstick comedy starring Pamela Green.

In the late 1960s, Disley moved across to the folk club scene, becoming the first ever 'folk comedian' and preceding the rise to fame of similar artists such as Jasper Carrott, Billy Connolly and Tony Capstick.^{[citation needed]} Also at this time he collaborated with fiddle player Dave Swarbrick and singer-guitarist Martin Carthy. Disley also played guitar accompaniment to Mike Absalom on the latter's 1968 album, Save the Last Gherkin for Me.^[5] By the 1970s, he was one of the folk scene's busiest artists and a mainstay of folk festivals as musician and compere.

In the 1970s, he was influential in persuading Stéphane Grappelli to return to playing public performances. They played together at the 1973 Cambridge Folk Festival and this began a lengthy collaboration between Disley and Grappelli, including tours of Australia, Europe and the United States. Karl Dallas^[6] reported Disley as having "single-handedly created a revival of interest in the music of Stephane Grappelli, which has taken him to the Carnegie Hall, Australia and New Zealand" (the latter in September 1974). "...the night he closed at the Palladium, he went to The Troubadour where he was booked later that night to perform his folk club act of idiocy and mayhem, keeping up the tradition he has built up over the past 20 years for delivering a shrewd mixture of musical brilliance and vocal insanity".

Regarding the stories in George Melly's book, Dallas quoted Disley as saying "Oh they're true. Everything in George's book is true. In fact they didn't print the best things."

The Daily Telegraph obituary reported: "In the early 1980s Disley formed a working partnership with the young gipsy guitarist Bireli Lagrene, with whom he again toured the world, and made a return visit to Carnegie Hall."^[7]

In 1984 Disley was instrumental in forming a club quintet for Nigel Kennedy, who was starting to explore other musical styles. This led back to Kennedy's attendance at one of the Grappelli gigs in 1973. Musicians in the original line-up with Kennedy were Jeff Green, Ian Cruickshank, Nils Solberg (guitars) and Dave Etheridge (bass), who had played with Disley and Denny Wright on their 1973 tour with Grappelli. In 1986, Disley formed the Soho String Quintette with Johnny Van Derrick (violin), Nils Solberg and Jeff Green and David Etheridge. An album Zing Went The Strings was issued on Waterfront Records.

In the 1990s, during several years he spent in Los Angeles, Disley recorded with the blues saxophonist Big Jay McNeely and country-rockabilly artist Ray Campi. He also painted several now sought-after portraits of jazz greats, including Illinois Jacquet, in the style of the cubists.

In early 2010 Disley's health took a serious turn for the worse, and he was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital, Hampstead, on 2 February. He died on 21 March 2010.

Partial discography[link]

Yorkshire Jazz Band[link]

• "St. Louis Blues" (William Christopher Handy) / "Weary Blues" (Artie Matthews), Tempo Records - division of Vogue Records, recorded in London on 18 June 1949. Personnel: Dickie Hawdon (timpani), Alan Cooper (clarinet), Tommy Durn (piano), Disley (banjo), Eddie O'Donnell (trombone), Tiny Lancaster (drums), Bob Barclay (tuba).

Diz Disley[link]

• Live at the White Bear

Diz Disley and the Soho String Quintet: Viper's Dream, Oui, Sweet Georgia Brown, Minor Swing. 1959 Pye Records NJE 1069

• Diz Disley & the Downbeats: "Django's Castle" / "Wot Cher! (Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road)", Parlophone 1961
• Eee! What A Whopper (Surprise - ILP 1015 - 1965)
• Diz Disley and the Soho String Quintette: Zing Went the Strings (Waterfront WF031 1986)

Dave Swarbrick, Martin Carthy and Diz Disley[link]

• Rags, Reels & Airs (1967), Topic

Sandy Denny[link]

• Like an Old Fashioned Waltz (1973), Island Records

Denny played and sang with: Pat Donaldson, Herry Conway, Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks, Danny Thompson, Alan Skidmore, Ian Armit, Jean Roussel, Jerry Donahue, Trevor Lucas, Richard Thompson, Disley and John "Rabbit" Bundrick

Stephane Grappelli with the Hot Club of London[link]

• I Got Rhythm! (1974)

with Dizley, Denny Wright and Len Skeat - recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, on 5 November 1973. Black Lion Records

Stephane Grappelli & the Diz Disley Trio[link]

• Live at Corby Festival Hall (1975)
• Shades of Django (1989), MPS Records
• Live At The Cambridge Folk Festival (2000)
• Violinspiration (2006), Verve Records

References[link]

Richard Tauber on a cigarette card

Richard Tauber (16 May 1891 – 8 January 1948)^[1] was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".

Early life[link]

He was born in Linz, Austria to Elisabeth Seifferth, an actress who played soubrette roles at the local theatre. His father, Richard Anton Tauber, also an actor, was not married to his mother and was unaware of the birth as he was touring America at the time. Being born out of wedlock, he was given the name Richard Denemy (Denemy being his mother's maiden name). He also used the names Ernst Seiffert, Carl Tauber and C. Richard Tauber at various times.

Richard accompanied his mother on tour to various theatres but she found it increasingly difficult to cope, and in 1897 he was sent to school in Linz, when his father took over his upbringing. His father, who had a Jewish background^[2] but had converted to Roman Catholicism,^{[citation needed]} hoped that Richard would become a priest, but the boy missed the excitement of the theatre and instead joined his father in Prague, and subsequently in 1903 at the theatre in Wiesbaden. Richard hoped to become a singer but failed to impress any of the teachers he auditioned for, probably because he chose to sing Wagner, for which his voice was not suited. Consequently, his father entered him at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt to study piano, composition and conducting, subjects which stood Tauber in good stead in later years. He made rapid progress but he still hoped to become a singer; whilst staying with friends at Freiburg he was heard by the well-known voice teacher Professor Carl Beines, who encouraged him to sing more quietly and promised a good career as a Mozart tenor.

Career[link]

He made his public debut at a concert at Freiburg on 17 May 1912. In 1912 his father was appointed Intendant of the Municipal Theatre in Chemnitz and was therefore in a position to arrange for Richard to appear as Tamino in The Magic Flute on 2 March 1913. A few days later he played Max in Der Freischütz, a performance which was attended by Baron Seebach of the Dresden Opera who had already offered Tauber a five-year contract, commencing on 1 August. The Baron encouraged Tauber to take small roles with other companies to broaden his experience.

During his years in Dresden, Tauber acquired his reputation as a remarkably quick study: he learned Gounod's Faust in 48 hours, Bacchus in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos in an afternoon, and so on. People started to call him "the SOS Tenor".

In 1922, Tauber signed a contract with the Vienna State Opera and appearances with the Berlin State Opera followed; for many years he appeared with both companies – four months with each, leaving four months for concerts and guest appearances with other companies and touring abroad. He sang the tenor role in many operas, including Don Giovanni, The Bartered Bride, Tosca, Mignon, Faust, Carmen and Die Fledermaus, as well as newer works such as Erich Korngold's Die tote Stadt and Wilhelm Kienzl's Der Evangelimann. It was during this period that he began making the first of over seven hundred grammophone records, mainly for the Odeon Records label.

Tauber had a lyrical, flexible tenor voice, and he sang with a warm, elegant legato. His excellent breath control gave him a wonderful head voice and messa di voce with a superb pianissimo. He was elegant in appearance too – although he had a slight squint in his right eye; he disguised it by wearing a monocle which, when accompanied by a top hat, added to the elegant effect. For many people he became the epitome of Viennese charm.

Harry Liedtke, Marlene Dietrich, and Richard Tauber in Ich küsse Ihre Hand, Madame (1929)

Tauber first performed in an operetta by Franz Lehár in Linz and Berlin, both in 1920, in Zigeunerliebe. Two years later he was offered the role of Armand in Lehár's Frasquita at the Theater an der Wien, and the experience was a resounding success.^[3] This excursion into operetta was looked down on by some, but it did Tauber no harm at all; in fact, it gave Tauber a new audience. Neither did it harm his voice as some had feared – Tauber was too fine a musician to indulge in poor vocal practices in pursuit of popularity. It also revived Lehár's flagging career as a composer of operetta. In the future, Lehár composed a number of operettas with roles written specifically for Richard Tauber, including Paganini (1925 - though he was not available for the Vienna premiere, and first sang it in Berlin in 1926), Der Zarewitsch (1927), Friederike (1928), The Land of Smiles (1929), Schön ist die Welt (1930), and Giuditta (1934).^[3] These usually occurred in the second act and were informally known as Tauberlieder. Tauber occasionally appeared in films, such as the early German sound film I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929) with Marlene Dietrich and Harry Liedtke.

Richard Tauber and Carlotta Vanconti, ca. 1928

When in Vienna, Tauber also conducted at the Theater an der Wien, and it was here that he met the soprano Carlotta Vanconti who soon divorced her Italian husband and married Tauber on 18 March 1926. They separated in 1928 and divorced two years later, by which time he had met Mary Losseff at Rudolf Nelson's review in Berlin. They lived together for about five years. Losseff became his muse; it was for her that he wrote Der singende Traum. Sadly, Losseff's career ended when she became an alcoholic, but Tauber remained her lifelong friend and supported her until his death.

In 1931, Tauber made his London debut in operetta, and London appearances became a regular event; he also toured the USA in this year. In 1933, Tauber was assaulted in the street by a group of Nazi Brownshirts because of his Jewish ancestry, and he decided to leave Germany for his native Austria, where he continued to sing at the Vienna State Opera right up to the Anschluss in March 1938. In the mid-1930s, he made several musical films in England, and at the premiere of her film Mimi in April 1935, he met the English actress Diana Napier (1905–1982); they were married on 20 June 1936. Napier appeared in three of his British films: Heart's Desire (1935), Land Without Music and Pagliacci (both 1936).

In 1938, he made his London operatic debut in Die Zauberflöte under Sir Thomas Beecham. Earlier that year, the Nazi government of Germany annexed Austria and Tauber left Austria for good. In response, the Nazi government withdrew the Taubers' passports and right of abode; because this left the couple technically stateless persons, Tauber applied for British citizenship. He was touring South Africa when World War II broke out, and returned to Switzerland until he received the papers allowing him to enter the United Kingdom, doing so in March 1940.

Despite receiving lucrative offers from the USA, he remained in the UK for the entire war. There was no opera staged in wartime Britain so he made a living by singing, conducting and making gramophone records and radio broadcasts. He even composed English operettas, together with the lyric writer Fred S. Tysh, from one of which, Old Chelsea, the song My Heart and I became one of his most popular English recordings. It was only these English records that brought him any royalties; for his earlier recordings he had been paid for each performance and he had been compelled to leave his savings behind in Austria. By now he was so crippled by arthritis that he could no longer move into and away from the microphone for softer and louder notes. A small trolley was built on rubber wheels so the engineers could silently roll him back and forth while recording.

In 1946, Tauber appeared in a Broadway adaptation of The Land of Smiles (This is my Heart) which flopped, leaving him with huge personal losses and in debt to the backers. He was thus forced to tour the USA, Canada, Central and South America for six months to recoup losses, with Arpad Sandor, George Schick and Neil Chotem serving as his accompanists.^{[citation needed]} In April 1947, Tauber returned to London and sought medical attention for a persistent cough. He was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer: one lung was already useless and the other nearly so.

Gravestone, Brompton Cemetery, London

The Vienna State Opera was in London for a short season at the Royal Opera House – their first visit since the war – and they invited Tauber to sing one performance with his old company. On 27 September 1947 he sang the role of Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, not a large part but with two difficult arias that demand good breath control to bring off well. Those in the audience say that he sang wonderfully and to loud applause. Live excerpts of these two arias from this performance survive, and they reveal a tone of undiminished focus and steadiness, a good line, and somewhat shortened phrasing. His career ended as it began – with Mozart.

Death[link]

A week later, Tauber entered Guy's Hospital to have his left lung removed, but it was too late; he died on 8 January 1948 in the London Clinic, Devonshire Place. Tauber's Requiem Mass was at St. James' Church, Spanish Place, and he is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

Selected filmography[link]

• I Kiss Your Hand, Madame (1929)
• Ich glaub nie mehr an eine Frau (1930)
• Das lockende Ziel (1930)
• Das Land des Lächelns (1930)
• Die grosse Attraktion (1931)
• Melodie der Liebe (1932)
• Blossom Time (1934)
• Heart's Desire (1935)
• Pagliacci (1936)
• Land Without Music (1936)
• Waltz Time (1945)
• Lisbon Story (1946)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Richard Tauber

• Richard Tauber at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Tauber at the Internet Broadway Database
• Das Richard Tauber Archiv (German)
• Greatest Singer?
• Richard Tauber: A Brief Appreciation
• Richard Tauber in Australia
• Photographs of Richard Tauber
• Tauber sings "You Are My Heart's Delight" on YouTube
• History of the Tenor – Sound Clips and Narration
• Richard Tauber at Find a Grave

Jenny Watson is the chair of the United Kingdom Electoral Commission.

A long term campaigner for women's rights, she had a 20+ year career in the not for profit sector. She started out at Liberty,^[1] and then political campaigners Charter88, before moving to Victim Support. She is a former Chair of the Fawcett Society, a not-for-profit organisation campaigning for equality between women and men.^[1]

Watson was the last chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission before the creation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights,^[1] having been first appointed as a commissioner in 1999, and deputy chair from 2000. She was deputy chair of the Banking Code Standards Board, and of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.^[1]

Watson is a director of Global Partners and Associates. She is a member of the Advertising Standards Authority's advertising advisory committee, and sits on the Council of the Women's Library at London Metropolitan University. She currently sits on the board of the Audit Commission, but her tenure will not be renewed.^[2] She is a trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation,^[3] a non-executive director of the Waste & Resources Action Programme, and a trustee of the Money Advice Trust.^[3]

Watson was appointed the second chair of the Electoral Commission in January 2009.^[1] She is paid £100,000 for a role which requires her to work three days a week.^[4] Watson remained chair of the electoral commission amidst criticism of her management of the United Kingdom general election, 2010, when she defended herself on the grounds that the Electoral Commission had few powers over returning officers. Since then, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 has increased the Commission's authority with regard to referendums. She formally announced the results of the last referendum held in the UK, regarding Welsh devolution, "in both English and Welsh with perfect pronunciation."^[5] [1]

Publications[link]

• Human Rights in Britain since the Human Rights Act 1998: A Critical Review co-authored with Alice Donald (Global Partners & Associates) and the Human Rights & Social Justice Research Unit of London Metropolitan University.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bio at the Electoral Commission
• Profile at The Guardian

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Buddy Greco
Greco in 1962.
Background information
Birth name	Armando Greco
Born	(1926-08-14) August 14, 1926 (age 85) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupations	Musician
Notable instruments
Piano

Buddy Greco (born August 14, 1926) is an American singer and pianist.

Biography[link]

Greco and George Carlin in a skit from Away We Go, 1967.

He was born Armando Greco in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Greco began playing piano at the age of four. His first professional work was playing with Benny Goodman's band.^[1] Most of Greco's work has been in the jazz and pop genres. He has recorded songs such as "Oh Look A-There, Ain't She Pretty", "The Lady is a Tramp", and "Around the World", and has released about 72 albums and 100 singles. Greco has had an active concert career playing in symphony halls, theatres, nightclubs, and Las Vegas showrooms. In the 1960s he made appearances with the Rat Pack. Greco played the nightclub singer Lucky in the 1969 film The Girl Who Knew Too Much. In 1967, Greco starred in the summer replacement television series Away We Go with drummer Buddy Rich and comedian George Carlin.^[2]

Greco has recorded albums for the Columbia/Epic and Reprise record labels, and other minor labels. His most popular albums were On Stage and Buddy's Back in Town, both with Columbia. His most successful single was "The Lady is a Tramp", which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.^[3] Greco recorded an album entitled Movin' On which included his version of the Marvin Gaye standard "What's Going On". Greco recorded sporadically after this album, but he continued performing live shows, and has performed in most of the top nightclubs in the world. His last nationally charted record was "From Atlanta to Goodbye", on the Scepter label, which made Billboard's Easy Listening Top 40 in 1969. Greco continued to appear at his club in Cathedral City, California, until its closure in August 2009.

In 2008, Greco toured the UK with his wife Lezlie Anders. Together they performed dates with the BBC Big Band and played at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. Greco was the first Las Vegas headliner to star at a British casino when he performed in cabaret on 8 August 2008 at the Circus Casino, Star City, Birmingham.^[4][5] In April 2010 he performed a live concert for BBC Radio 2 with the 42-piece BBC Concert Orchestra as a salute to Frank Sinatra. He toured the UK for over 30 dates from July 2010 with the Swinging Las Vegas Legends Show. He has produced, with his wife of 15 years, vocalist Lezlie Anders, a stage show titled 'FEVER! The Music of Miss Peggy Lee', which has met with critical acclaim, and opened in London's West End in the spring of 2010.^[4]

On New Year's Eve 2011 he made a guest appearance on Jools Hollands 'Hootenanny' singing Fly Me To The Moon backed by the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.

Personal life[link]

Greco has been married five times^[6]:

• Sally Baionno (1947-1962), divorced, 3 children
• Dani Crayne (1961-1974), actress, divorced
• Margret Kinley (1974-1977), divorced, 1 child Anastasia Greco
• Jackie ? (1977-?), 3 children
• Lezlie Anders (14 April 1995-present)

He and his wife have homes in Palm Springs, California, and Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England.

Partial discography[link]

• Around the World (Epic)
• Lady Is a Tramp (Epic)
• Ready for Your Love (Bainbridge Records)
• Buddy Greco at Mister Kelly's 1956
• My Buddy (Epic) 1959
• Broadway Melodies (Kapp Records) 1960
• Buddy (Kapp) 1960
• Songs for Swinging Losers (Epic) 1960
• Back in Town (Epic) 1961
• I Like It Swinging (Epic) 1961
• Body and Soul (Epic) 1962
• Let's Love (Epic) 1962
• Sings for Intimate Moments (Epic) 1963
• Buddy Greco On Stage! (Epic) 1964
• My Last Night in Rome 1964
• In a Brand New Bag (Reprise) 1966

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Greco at Allmusic.com website
• Buddy Greco at the Internet Movie Database