Rosemary Clooney

Walking into the handsome Beverly Hills mansion, you are imbued with a sense of pop music history, and not only because Rosemary Clooney moved in 33 years ago. George Gershwin lived here. Russ Columbo died here. Columbo (who preceded Bing Crosby as vocalist with the Gus Arnheim orchestra) could have been bigger than Bing, if that gun hadn't gone off accidentally in the den of this house and wiped him out at 26.

Good piece about Willie Nelson but a reminder: Ray Charles also had to have some guts in the '50s when he covered "Georgia on My Mind," which had been a big hit 25 years earlier for its composer Hoagy Carmichael, who was no slouch at singing, piano playing and songwriting. The song also had been recorded beautifully in 1931 by Mildred Bailey, including the song's interesting verse. Way too many folks have forgotten Bailey, who was a really solid jazz singer who exerted a tremendous influence on Ella Fitzgerald and also influenced Billie Holiday and Rosemary Clooney.

Rosemary Clooney, the versatile pop singer who soared to fame in the early 1950s with the novelty tune "Come On-a My House," overcame prescription-pill addiction and a nervous breakdown in the late '60s and began a comeback in the late '70s that boosted her stature as one of the finest pop singers in show business, has died. She was 74. Clooney, who had undergone surgery for lung cancer in January at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

For most artists, getting a Grammy Award nomination is a welcome piece of news. Not for Bette Midler, not this year. In a twist of fate, her CD "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook" is up against an actual Clooney album, "The Last Concert." The other category nominees are Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett and k.d. lang. "I'm mortified. I'd really like Rosemary to win that Grammy. I can't believe I'm up against her," Midler told the Boston Globe.

Frank Sinatra got it right when he described Rosemary Clooney as "a symbol of good, modern American music." Right, but not quite complete, because Clooney--currently celebrating 50 years in the entertainment world--has matured into a lot more than a symbol, and a far more intriguing singer than she was during her "Come On-a My House" days in the '50s.

WHITE CHRISTMAS--Naturally that's what Rosemary Clooney wound up singing at her Beverly Hills home Tuesday night. The packed-to-the-rafters kickoff was for the second annual "Singers Salute the Songwriters," presented by the Betty Clooney Foundation for the Brain-Injured and set for April 6. This year's concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion honors Stevie Wonder, Henry Mancini, Sammy Fain, Jimmy van Heusen and Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach.

Everything came up Rosie and everyone rose to their feet (at least twice) Monday night to pay loving tribute to legendary songstress Rosemary Clooney--the woman who smiles when she sings "because honey, you can hear it in your voice." And what a voice. Clooney--and her voice--were celebrated by more than 1,200 guests at the star-studded gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band is one of the finest large jazz ensembles in the country. Organized in 1992, they are a talented assemblage of New York players whose skills range easily from the traditional to the avant-garde. But the Jazz Band had very little real opportunity to strut its stuff in a debut performance at the Hollywood Bowl Wednesday night.

Somebody cue "I'll Be Home for Christmas"--Rosemary Clooney is ready to board the plane. She's talking from the Regency Hotel in New York, just hours before going onstage to sing her seasonal favorites. Manhattan is cold and crowded, and despite its holiday charms, Clooney is dreaming of a warm Christmas in Southern California. "I'm a little chilly," Clooney replied when asked recently how's she doing.

Rosemary Clooney made a final journey to her hometown Friday for a funeral attended by family, friends and hundreds of fans. The mellow-voiced singer and actress, who co-starred with Bing Crosby in "White Christmas" and staged a dramatic comeback after drugs and alcohol nearly destroyed her career, died June 29 at 74 after a long battle with lung cancer. More than 700 people packed into St.

Nick Clooney, father of actor George Clooney and brother of the late singer Rosemary Clooney, said Monday that he will run for Congress from a district in northern Kentucky. Clooney, 67, will campaign as a Democrat to succeed three-term Democrat Rep. Ken Lucas, who in his retirement announcement backed Clooney's candidacy. Clooney, who writes a thrice-weekly column for the Cincinnati Post, has never run for public office. He is a former TV news anchor, having worked at L.A.'

The responses in Letters, May 4 ("Hopes for Keeping Musical Home as a 'Cultural Icon' "), are absurd. The home isn't a beautiful classic that should be restored, but a moldy old house needing an enormous amount of work. An ideal teardown in a great location. Terry Perry West Hills Now let me get this straight: The national treasure Rosemary Clooney lived in this home for 50 years. Prior to that, another national treasure, composer George Gershwin, lived in the home. In other words, if those walls could talk, they'd sing.

Regarding "Singer Clooney's Home Is Sold" (Hot Property, April 27): I can understand that a recently deceased well-known entertainer's home in Beverly Hills has been sold; life goes on. But it's tragic that "the buyer, a businessman who owns several large retail and wholesale properties in the downtown L.A. fashion district, plans to raze the house." This undoubtedly classic and beautiful home was owned by Rosemary Clooney for 50 years and before that by an American icon, George Gershwin.

Hearing the husky voice, the tender lyrics, Monsita Botwick pulled a white handkerchief from her beaded handbag and dabbed her eyes. "We'll get through it," whispered her sister, Maria Murdock. "I'm going to pretend like I'm not even hearing this right now." The tune was "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe," a number their mother, the late Rosemary Clooney, loved to sing for their father, Jose Ferrer.

Rosemary Clooney made a final journey to her hometown Friday for a funeral attended by family, friends and hundreds of fans. The mellow-voiced singer and actress, who co-starred with Bing Crosby in "White Christmas" and staged a dramatic comeback after drugs and alcohol nearly destroyed her career, died June 29 at 74 after a long battle with lung cancer. More than 700 people packed into St.

When Rosemary Clooney first attained stardom in the early 1950s, she looked and sounded no different from a generation of blond beauties who had seduced the American listening public. Like Doris Day, Dinah Shore, June Christy and scores more, Clooney was easy on the eyes and the ears.

Rosemary Clooney has a cold. Her dark-toned, mellifluous voice sounds a few pitches lower than normal, and there's just the echo of a frog at the bottom of the well. "I'm usually down a couple of notes from where I used to be when I was singing 'Come On-A My House,' " she says. "And right now, it's a few notes below that." She also has a reconstructed knee. ("Just call me a woman of parts," she adds with a throaty chuckle.

Singers Salute Songwriters: Rosemary Clooney will be joined by an array of stars at the Fifth Annual Singers' Salute to the Songwriter anniversary concert on April 24 to benefit the Betty Clooney Foundation for Persons with Brain Injury at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Liza Minnelli, Linda Ronstadt, Martin Short, Bob Hope, Gary Morris, Debby Boone, the Hi-Los, Michael Feinstein and Glen Campbell will help Clooney honor Marvin Hamlisch, John Kander and Fred Ebb and Jimmy Webb.

Rosemary Clooney, the versatile pop singer who soared to fame in the early 1950s with the novelty tune "Come On-a My House," overcame prescription-pill addiction and a nervous breakdown in the late '60s and began a comeback in the late '70s that boosted her stature as one of the finest pop singers in show business, has died. She was 74. Clooney, who had undergone surgery for lung cancer in January at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Somebody cue "I'll Be Home for Christmas"--Rosemary Clooney is ready to board the plane. She's talking from the Regency Hotel in New York, just hours before going onstage to sing her seasonal favorites. Manhattan is cold and crowded, and despite its holiday charms, Clooney is dreaming of a warm Christmas in Southern California. "I'm a little chilly," Clooney replied when asked recently how's she doing.