Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999),[1] nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author.

He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.

His aunt Faye Tormé had risen to local fame in Chicago, where, dubbed the "Wonder Frisco Dancer," she raised money by dancing at war bond rallies in 1917–8.

Mel's only formal musical education came from his Uncle Al Tormé, who played the ukulele and the Albert system clarinet.

[8] A child prodigy, he first performed professionally at age four with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy," a song he had learned on the radio, at Chicago's Blackhawk restaurant.

On Friday and Saturday nights, Alberta played piano in a five-piece jazz band at the famed Savoy Ballroom.

Tormé later recalled of Alberta, "She had it all, the syncopation, the jazz conception, the deep feeling in her singing, the deliciously dissonant chords she played.

[citation needed] In 1944, he formed the vocal quintet Mel Tormé and His Mel-Tones, modeled on Frank Sinatra and The Pied Pipers.

The Mel-Tones were among the first jazz-influenced vocal groups,[12] blazing a path later followed by The Hi-Lo's, The Four Freshmen, The Singers Unlimited, and The Manhattan Transfer.

His appearances at New York's Copacabana led local disc jockey Fred Robbins to give him the nickname “the Velvet Fog” in honor of his high tenor and smooth vocal style.

[citation needed] His radio program, Mel Tormé Time, appeared on the short-lived Progressive Broadcasting System in the 1950s.

She stood in the middle of her sisters, planted her feet apart, and belted out solos as well as singing the lead parts with zest and confidence.

[15]Though he spent most of his career singing jazz, Tormé had a deep appreciation for classical music, especially that of Frederick Delius and Percy Grainger.

He played "The Deacon", a bible-quoting gunfighter who protects a female saloon owner and teaches a young Chinese man the art of the fast draw.

[19] In 1967, he appeared with Lucille Ball in a two-part episode of The Lucy Show — "Main Street U.S.A." — as Mel Tinker, a songwriter who hopes to preserve the character of his small town.

The 1996 episode, entitled "Greatfellas," featured Tormé as a version of himself from a parallel universe in which he is a country music singer who is also an FBI informant.

[1] For several years, his appearances at Michael's Pub on the Upper East Side would unofficially open New York's fall cabaret season.

Tormé made a guest vocal appearance on the 1983 album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes by the progressive pop band Was (Not Was).

Tormé sang the satiric jazz song "Zaz Turned Blue" about a teenager who is choked as part of an erotic asphyxiation ("Steve squeezed his neck/He figured what the heck") – and who may or may not have suffered brain damage as a result ("Now he plays lots of pool/And as a rule/He wears a silly grin/On his chin").

[13] Mel Tormé was married four times, first to Candy Toxton (1949-1955); second to Arlene Miles (1956-1965); third to Janette Scott, Thora Hird's daughter (1966-1977); and last to Ali Severson (from 1984 to his death in 1999).

Both were firmly rooted in the foundation of the swing era, but both seemed able to incorporate bebop innovations to keep their performances sounding fresh and contemporary.

Like Sinatra, they sang with perfect diction and brought out the emotional content of the lyrics through subtle alterations of phrasing and harmony.

Unlike Sinatra, both Fitzgerald and Tormé were likely to cut loose during a swinging up-tempo number with several scat choruses, using their voices without words to improvise a solo like a brass or reed instrument.Children and stepchildren: