His parents were encouraged to develop the child's musical talents and he studied classical piano in the United States.

His popularity grew and his group expanded into a 14-piece orchestra, releasing some 19 albums for Decca over the years.

Other venues where he drew large audiences included New York's Hotel Astor, Chicago's Palmer House and the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles.

Cavallaro developed a piano-playing style of glittering and rippling arpeggios to augment his melody, which was often arranged in thick and lush triple- and quadruple-octave chords.

[6] Although he wrote several songs, including "Dolores My Own" and "Anita", the most popular were "While the Night Wind Sings" and "Masquerade Waltz".

[7] Later in films, he played himself, starting with Hollywood Canteen (1944), then Diamond Horseshoe, Out of This World (both 1945) and The Time, The Place and The Girl (1946).

His most celebrated film achievement was playing the piano music for actor Tyrone Power's hands to mime, in The Eddy Duchin Story (1956).