Morton
Downey
1901-1985
Recording
Artist, Radio
Known throughout his career as "The
Golden Voiced Irish Tenor," "The Irish Troubadour,"
and "The Irish Nightingale" Morton Downey
was the first Irish-American superstar of the twentieth century.Paul
Whiteman discovered him in New York and signed him as a vocalist.
In 1926 he left Whiteman to sing for Ziegfield's Palm
Beach Nights in Florida. After this he went solo and
toured London, Paris and Berlin and gained international stardom.
He tried making films but he was not very comfortable as an
actor. Radio became his claim to fame when he was signed by
CBS. At the peak of his career, in the 1930s he was receiving
95,000 fan letters a week and earning $250,000 a year. Coca-Cola
was his main sponsor and eventually he eased out of entertainment
and into the corporate world with them. His grandfather was
from Co. Kilkenny, Ireland.
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