I was born Alfredo Arnold Cocozza in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 31, 1921 and was exposed to opera and singing at a young age. By the age of 16 my vocal talent became apparent. Starting out in local operatic productions in Philadelphia, I later came to the attention of conductor Serge Koussevitzky, who provided me with a full student scholarship to the Berkshire Music Festival at Tanglewood in Massachusetts. Koussevitzky would later tell me that "Yours is a voice such as is heard once in a hundred years."
My operatic debut, as Fenton in Otto Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, was at Tanglewood on August 7, 1942, after just six weeks of study with conductors Boris Goldovsky and Leonard Bernstein. It was here that I adopted my stage name from my mother Maria's maiden name of Lanza. My performances at Tanglewood won me critical acclaim, with Noel Straus of The New York Times hailing the me as having "few equals among tenors of the day in terms of quality, warmth, and power."
My operatic career was interrupted by World War II, when I was assigned to Special Services in the U.S. Army Air Corps. I appeared on the wartime shows On the Beam and Winged Victory while in the Air Corps.
I resumed my singing career in October 1945 on the CBS radio program Great Moments in Music, where I made six appearances singing various operatic selections. I later studied under Enrico Rosati for fifteen months, then embarked on an 86-concert tour of the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948 with George London and Frances Yeend. In April 1948, I sang Pinkerton in the New Orleans Opera's Madama Butterfly. A concert at the Hollywood Bowl brought me to the attention of MGM's Louis B. Mayer, who signed me to a seven-year film contract with Metro Goldwyn Mayer. This would prove to be a turning point in my career.
MGM's contract required me to commit to the studio for six months, and at first I was able to combine my film career with my operatic one, singing two acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association in April 1948. I also continued to perform in concert, both in solo appearances and as part of the Bel Canto Trio with George London and Frances Yeend. In May 1949, I made my first commercial recordings with RCA Victor. However, my first two films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful, as was my recording career, and my fame increased dramatically.
In 1951, I portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved to be an astonishing success. At the same time, my popularity exposed me to intense criticism by music critics, including those who had praised my work years earlier.
In 1954, I was dismissed by MGM after I had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. The film was subsequently made with actor Edmund Purdom miming to my vocals. During this period I came very close to bankruptcy as a result of poor investment decisions made by my former manager. Owing about $250,000 in back taxes to the IRS, I withdrew from the public eye for a time.
I returned to an active film career in 1956 in Serenade, and despite its strong musical content, it was not as successful as my previous films. I then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where I worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout Britain, Ireland and the European Continent. In early 1958, I auditioned for the management of La Scala in Milan, and was immediately offered a minimum two-year contract to sing at that theatre. The opera initially discussed was Puccini's Tosca. Later that year, I also agreed to open the 1960/61 season at the Rome Opera as Canio in Pagliacci. At the same time, however, my health began to decline, with me suffering from a variety of ailments including phlebitis and acute high blood pressure. The following year, in April 1959, I suffered a minor heart attack, followed by double pneumonia in August. I died in Rome in October of that year at the age of 38 from a pulmonary embolism. Soprano Maria Callas would later say of me "My biggest regret is not to have had the opportunity to sing with the greatest tenor voice I've ever heard."
My short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. I was the first artist for RCA Victor Red Seal to receive a gold disc. I was also the first artist to sell two and half million albums. A highly influential artist, I have been credited with inspiring the careers of successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and Jose Carreras, as well as those of singers with seemingly different backgrounds, and influences, my RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley being the most notable example. In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to me in a worldwide concert tour, saying of me "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."
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We Wish You a Merry Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪We Wish You a Merry Christmas ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry Christmas♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪..." Copy and paste~keep the wave going
"UNITY" OUT NOW! Bruce Anderson's New Double CD "UNITY" 37 Songs from Rock to Classical .Available from www.bruceanderson-thesinger.co.uk. ALBUM OF THE WEEK BBC RADIO, NOVEMBER 2009.
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