NAMES IN THE NEWS : No Retirement, Mel Torme Says
Singer-writer Mel Torme might be nearing age 65 but that doesn’t mean he has any plans of bowing out of show business.
In fact, “1990 is the single biggest year in my life,” Torme said. “I’d be crazy to even think about retiring.”
Torme’s date at the Flathead Festival on Wednesday is sandwiched between performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and the London Symphony in England.
In between concerts, he keeps busy writing, Torme said by telephone from his California home.
“My main visibility is that of a singer, and I love to sing,” said Torme, whose birthday is in September. “But my greatest joy is in writing, the creative activity.”
Probably his single best-known writing achievement is “The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire . . . “), which Torme composed in 1946. It has been recorded 500 times, most notably by the late Nat King Cole.
Torme is working on an entire album of Christmas music, to be recorded with the BBC Symphony, and scheduled for release near Christmas 1991, he said.
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