I did tour with Bob Hope and Les Brown and his band for seven years and it was wonderful. The guys were so great in the band.
I had years of experience that I still needed to accumulate and go through.
I missed out on the years of experience I would have received by singing the same songs over and over and getting better.
I never really was a band singer, though. I worked mainly with studio musicians, and not true'bands.
I'll be performing in Washington, D.C., in May, where I'll be singing and telling stories about singing during the War.
I've done a lot of Off-Broadway, and shows all over the country. I have been in Gypsy a lot and was all the place with that.
Johnny Mercer was my father's best friend and became mine as well. And Harold Arlen, whom I would call Uncle Harry, and Harry Warren: those were ones who I really became close to.
Rosemary was a little nervous about going onstage, but she went on with us. I saw her at a party, and a couple of months later they called me about doing the act.
So many schools have cut the music classes out of their curriculum. We're trying to fill that gap by teaching the teachers how to educate the kids about their musical heritage.
That's really what was wonderful for me growing up, since I got to know so many of the songwriters who liked me and thought I had talent. They would then tell me how to read a lyric and sing a song, and challenge me to try and find a different end to a song.
The musicians recommend that I sing a sing the way it is written the first time and then start to look for other notes that aren't in the melody.
The way I teach people to sing... I have them talk the lyric out until it sounds like something they really believe, like an actor with a monologue.
We teach young kids from 8 to 14 or 15 about their musical heritage through great songs written by American songwriters. We don't do too many modern composers, although we include songs from Billy Joel and other writers like him.
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