Rosemary Clooney

Completing six decades, and twenty five albums, as one of America’s most beloved entertainers, Rosemary Clooney garnered numerous awards and may best be recognised for her starring role with Bing Crosby in White Christmas. She's been called  a pop icon and spoken in the same breath as Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. Several of her records garnered her Grammy Nominations. She didn't win, but was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award on February 28, 2002. Throughout her long career she received numerous honours.

Rosemary saw her mission in life to simply be singing. She said, "I just would like to keep singing. As soon as I'm not singing well, I hope that I know it, so that I can get off the stage and leave what I have done. I hope I'll know, and if I don't, I hope somebody tells me." Rosemary's last performance was December 15, 2001 at the Count Basie Theatre in Redbank, NJ and she was still singing well. She died on June 29, 2002.

Here she is with the classic Mambo Italiano.