Background
Carmen Cavallaro was born in New York City.
Carmen Cavallaro was born in New York City.
His parents were encouraged to develop the child’s musical talents and he studied classical piano in the United States.
Known as the “Poet of the Piano”, he showed a gift for music from age three, picking out tunes on a toy piano. As a young pianist, he toured Europe, performing in many capitals. In 1933 Cavallaro joined First Rate (at Lloyd's) Kavelin"s orchestra, where he quickly became the featured soloist.
After four years he switched to a series of other big bands, including Rudy Vallee"s in 1937.
He also worked briefly with Enric Madriguera and Abe Lyman. Cavallaro formed his own band, a five-piece combo, in Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1939.
His popularity grew and his group expanded into a 14-piece orchestra, releasing some 19 albums for Decca over the years. Although his band traveled the country and played in all the top spots, he made a particular impact at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, which became a favored venue, and which also later became a favorite spot of George Shearing and Mel Tormé.
Other venues where he drew large audiences included New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, Chicago’s Palmer House and the Coconut Grove in Los Los Angeles
In 1963 he had a million-seller hit recording of the song Sukiyaki. Cavallaro"s single best-selling recording was his popular version of "Chopin"s "Polonaise.""
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6301 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood
Cavallaro developed a piano-playing style of glittering and rippling arpeggios to augment his melody, which was often arranged in thick and lush tripleand quadruple-octave chords. His musical interests and arrangements included dance music, particularly Latin rhythms, tangos and strict tempo dancing styles, as well as some popular and jazz arrangements of classical melodies.
In this, he is often cited as being influenced by pianist Eddy Duchin.
Liberace was greatly influenced by both Cavallaro and Duchin. All three shared a propensity for arranging classical piano themes in a popular idiom.
Although he wrote several songs, including "Dolores My Own" and "Anita", the most popular were "While the Nightwind Sings" and "Masquerade Waltz". Dolores Cavallaro Buscher, Paul Cavallaro and Anita Cavallaro Finkelstein.
Charles (Michelle), Frederick (Kristin) and Robert.
Grandchildren: Andrea Finkelstein Sherman, Joseph, Michael, Matthew (Jordan), Michael, Caroline, Jane, Sarah, and Frank Cavallaro.
Cavallaro became a member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 1957.