Una vita stupenda

1958 was the year of the first visit to Italy by an Italian-American singer who, alongside Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, championed for years the so-called “confidential” style, in the US first and then in the rest of the world: Perry Como. He was then at the peak of his career thanks to the very successful TV show “The Perry Como Show”.

Knowing Perry’s passion for golf, I did everything I could to meet him and play with him on those Acqua Santa greens that had seen me in caddy’s clothes many years before. It was a very nice and friendly encounter.

Having become friends, Perry invited me to appear on his show in New York, which would also be aired on Italian television a few weeks later. He was very surprised when I showed him the pictures that depicted me next to Frank Sinatra in Florence in 1953. That meeting had been arranged by mutual friends. On that occasion I gave Sinatra my record Luna Rossa with its piano score.

(Claudio Villa, Una vita stupenda, Mondadori: Milano, 1987, p.105)