{"id":2361,"date":"2013-09-13T18:22:51","date_gmt":"2013-09-13T22:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christmasclassics.com\/christmasmusic\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2013-09-16T12:35:54","modified_gmt":"2013-09-16T16:35:54","slug":"christmas-classics-person-day-mel-torme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christmasclassics.com\/christmasmusic\/christmas-classics-person-day-mel-torme","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Classics PERSON OF THE DAY: Mel Torm\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

On this day in 1925, Melvin Howard Torma, better known as Mel Torm\u00e9, was born in Chicago to a Russian Jewish family. He was an accomplished and well-liked jazz composer, scat singer, author, and actor for television and movies. In Christmas music circles he is best known as co-author, along with Robert Wells, of The Christmas Song<\/i><\/span><\/strong> (a.k.a. Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire<\/i><\/span>).
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During the World War II years Torm\u00e9 moved to California, enlisted in the Army, and started his own quintet Mel Torm\u00e9 & the Mel-Tones. B y 1947 he decided to strike out on his own and then went on to develop a reputation as a cool jazz singer. He did not disappoint in 1948 with Careless Arms<\/i><\/span><\/strong>, a number one hit. In all \u201cThe Velvet Fog\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong> a sobriquet Torm\u00e9 detested, is credited with 250 songs and the arranger for a host of songs he sang for several recording companies, including Decca and Capitol Records. For a time in the 1960s he was the principal song writer and music arranger for The Judy Garland Show<\/span> <\/i><\/strong>and by the 1970s with the resurgence of jazz singing his career was revitalized and from that time forward he remained a presence in the jazz world until his death.<\/p>\n

How Torm\u00e9 became associated with one of the most popular Christmas songs for the past seven decades is one for the books. During a terrific heat wave besieging Los Angeles in July of 1945, the songwriter Robert Wells sat at his piano and tried to find solace from the heat by jotting down several lines of lyrics with wintry themes. \u201cIt was so damn hot, I thought I\u2019d write something to cool myself off<\/em>,<\/span>\u201d he once said. \u201cAll I could think of was Christmas and cold weather<\/em>.\u201d<\/span> While in this mood, his good friend Mel Torm\u00e9 paid a visit. When Torm\u00e9 noticed the notes Wells had put to paper, he suggested to him that they just might have the beginnings of a Christmas song.<\/p>\n

Within twenty or forty-five minutes, depending upon who\u2019s telling the story, the two songsters produced The Christmas Song<\/span><\/strong>.<\/em> Torm\u00e9 then went to the home of Nat King Cole and convinced him to record the song, and in the Spring of 1946 Nat went into a New York recording studio with a simple piano version of the song. The initial results weren\u2019t satisfactory, and at the urging of his wife Maria and manager, the mellifluous singer responded with a more highly regarded version with strings and full orchestra. It was Cole’s exquisite recording that popularized the song, and over the years The Christmas Song<\/i><\/span><\/strong> has consistently ranked as one of America\u2019s seasonal favorites.<\/p>\n

Considered an historic recording, the song was honored in 1999, as was Torm\u00e9 himself for life time achievement, by being inducted by the Grammy Awards organization into its Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

The Christmas Song<\/em><\/span><\/strong> has truly stood the test of time. This is quite understandable because it was written during an age when composers like Torm\u00e9 produced music marked by grace and charm. In retrospect it is easily understood why his passing was mourned by many, especially by those nostalgic for such memorable musings from \u201cChestnuts roasting on an open fire\u201d<\/em> . . . to . . .<\/span> \u201cAnd so I’m offering this simple phrase, To kids from one to ninety-two; Although it’s been said many times, many ways, “Merry Christmas to you.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mel<\/a>

Mel Torm\u00e9<\/p><\/div>\n

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