[10][11][12] Posthumously, Como received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002 and was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

[23] The family had a second-hand organ his father had bought for $3; as soon as Como was able to toddle, he would head to the instrument, pump the bellows, and play music he had heard.

[22] He showed more musical talent in his teenaged years as a trombone player in the town's brass band, playing guitar, singing at weddings, and as an organist at church.

Como, his girlfriend Roselle, and their friends had gone to nearby Cleveland; their good times took them to the Silver Slipper Ballroom, where Freddy Carlone and his orchestra were playing.

[23] By the time Como had been with Weems about a year, he was mentioned in a 1937 Life magazine NBC Radio ad for Fibber McGee and Molly as "causing cardiac flutters with his crooning".

[52] Though Como was now making $250 a week and travel expenses for the family were no problem, Ronnie could not become used to a normal routine when they were unable to stay in one place for a period of time.

[55][56] While Como was negotiating for a store lease to reopen a barber shop, he received a call from Tommy Rockwell at General Artists Corporation, who also represented Weems.

"[1][26][60] Until the radio show and recording contract offers, he did not view singing as his true career, believing the years with Carlone and Weems had been enjoyable but now it was time to get back to work.

[67] The crooning craze was at its height during this time, and the "bobby soxer" and "swooner" teenaged girls who were wild about Sinatra added Como to their list.

Como's popularity also extended to a more mature audience when he played the Versailles and returned to the Copacabana, where the management placed "SRO-Swooning Ruled Out" cards on their tables.

[8][68][69] Doug Storer, who was an advertising manager with the Blackman Company at the time, became convinced of Como's abilities after hearing him on his unsponsored CBS Radio show.

Storer produced a demonstration radio program recording with Como and the Mitchell Ayres Orchestra, which he brought to the advertising agency that handled the Chesterfield Cigarettes account.

Initially, the agency liked the format of the show, but wanted someone else as the star, asking Storer to obtain the release of the singer they preferred, so he would be free for their new program.

[71][72][73] The April 5, 1946, broadcasts of the Chesterfield Supper Club took place 20,000 feet in the air; these were the first known instances of a complete radio show being presented from an airplane.

[77] This mid-air performance caused the American Federation of Musicians to consider this a new type of engagement and issue a special set of rates for it.

[95] In 1982, Como and Frank Sinatra were invited to entertain Italian President Sandro Pertini at a White House state dinner when he made an official visit.

A guest on that first show was Como's eight-year-old son, Ronnie, as part of a boys' choir singing "Silent Night" with his father.

[156] In addition to this season premiere as a color television show, there was also a royal visit from Prince Rainier of Monaco and his bride of six months, Grace Kelly.

Over the next four seasons, from 1963 to 1967, the series was presented as monthly specials alternating with Kraft Suspense Theatre, The Andy Williams Show, and finally The Road West.

[169][170] In late 1962, after the Cuban Missile Crisis had settled well enough to permit the evacuated servicemen's families to return to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was eager to do more for morale there.

Some highlights of the program, which was seen in the US on December 12, 1962, included Como's shaving a serviceman with a Castro-like beard and the enthusiastic participation when Perry asked for volunteers to come on stage to do the Twist with the lovely ladies who were part of the visiting dance troupe.

By special permission of Pope Paul VI, Como and his crew were able to shoot segments in the Vatican gardens and other areas where cameras had never been permitted previously.

[176][177] The choir performed a Christmas hymn in Latin written by their director, Domenico Bartolucci, called "Christ Is Born", as part of their presentation.

Como asked his associate, Ray Charles, to write English lyrics for the song, using it many times on both television shows and his Christmas albums.

The 1987 Christmas special was cancelled at the behest of an angry Como; the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) was willing to offer him only a Saturday 10 PM time slot for it three weeks before the holiday.

[188] Como, who sat in a side wing of the Long Island church where he attended Sunday Mass in an effort to avoid attracting attention, was both puzzled and upset on returning home that photos from the visit made the newspapers throughout the world.

[201][202] Another factor was his naturalness; the man on TV every week was the same person who could be encountered behind a supermarket shopping cart, at a bowling alley, or in a kitchen making breakfast.

[207] His preference for casual clothing did not keep him from being named one of the Best Dressed Men beginning in 1946, and continuing long after Como stopped appearing on weekly television.

[12] Posthumously, Como received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002;[230] he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006.

"[234] Composer Ervin Drake said of him, "... [o]ccasionally someone like Perry comes along and won't 'go with the flow' and still prevails in spite of all the bankrupt others who surround him and importune him to yield to their values.