Johnny Desmond |
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Johnny Desmond (November 14, 1919 - September 6, 1985) was a popular American singer.
He was born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone in Detroit, Michigan. As a boy, he sang on a local radio station, but at age 15 he quit to work at his father's grocery. He still retained a love of music, however, and went to the Detroit Conservatory of Music briefly before heading to the nightclub circuit, playing piano and singing.
In 1939 he formed his own singing group. The group was first called the Downbeats, but after being hired to work with Bob Crosby's big band in 1940, it was renamed the Bob-O-Links. The group appeared on fifteen commercial recordings by the Crosby orchestra, including two charted hits, "You Forgot About Me" (which reached #15), and "Do You Care?" (#18).