1955 Don Cornell – Most Of All

1955 Don Cornell – Most Of All

When he was only 18, Luigi Francisco Valaro began working professionally as a guitar player in the band of trumpet player Red Nichols. He eventually began using the professional name Don Cornell and found fame singing in the big band led by Sammy Kaye. Between 1942 and 1949, Don sang on nine top ten singles and another half-dozen top forty singles.

He started a solo career in the fifties and recorded two top five singles in 1952. His most successful song as a solo artist came in 1954. Hold My Hand reached #2 on the Hot 100 in the US and topped the charts in the UK.

Disk jockey Alan Freed signed up to manage a group started by Harvey Fuqua in 1952. He changed the group’s name to The Moonglows the next year. Harvey and Alan wrote the song Sincerely, and the group’s single topped the R&B chart and reached #20 on the Hot 100 in 1954.

Alan and Harvey also wrote the group’s next single, the doo-wop ballad Most Of All. The record did not reach the Hot 100, but it peaked at #5 on the R&B chart in 1955.

Don recorded a cover version of Most Of All that was closer to what pop radio stations wanted to play. His single reached #14 on the Hot 100 later in 1955.

Later that year, Don reached #7 on the Hot 100 with his single The Bible Tells Me So.

He also had two more singles that peaked at #26 and #25 in 1957. He continued recording and releasing records at least through 1966, but never again reached the top forty.

Don received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1963. He continued performing as a singer into the nineties before retiring to Florida.

Don died after in 2004 after battling with emphysema and diabetes.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/don-cornell-mn0000177207/biography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Cornell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moonglows

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