Morton Downey

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Morton Downey (November 14, 1901 – October 25, 1985) was a singer popular in the United States, enjoying his greatest success in the 1930s and 1940s.

Morton Downey was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, the child of Irish immigrant parents. Downey was nicknamed the Irish Nightingale.

For a time in the 1920s, Tenor Downey sang with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. He first recorded in 1923 for Edison Records under the pseudonym Morton James; the following year he recorded for Victor with the S.S. Leviathan Orchestra. In 1925 he began 4 years of recording for Brunswick Records. In 1926 he had a hit in the show Palm Beach Nights.

He toured London, Paris, Berlin, New York City, and Hollywood. He also started making appearances in motion pictures in 1929.

In 1930 he began making national radio broadcasts. He was voted the USA's "Radio Singer of the Year" in 1932. In the 1930s he recorded for ARC and Decca Records, then in the 1940s made records for Columbia.

Starting in 1949, Morton Downey began appearing on television, and in the 1950s hosted the television show Star of the Family.

Downey was also a songwriter: his most successful numbers including "All I Need is Someone Like You", "California Skies", "In the Valley of the Roses", and "Now You're in My Arms", "Sweeten Up Your Smile", "That's How I Spell Ireland", "There's Nothing New", and "Wabash Moon".

Morton Downey was the father of the late right-wing television personality Morton Downey, Jr., by his late wife, Barbara Bennett (1906 - 1958, the sister of actresses Constance Bennett and Joan Bennett) whose promising beginnings as a dancer gave way to her turbulent marriage with Downey and a steady decline into alcoholism.

Morton Downey died in Palm Beach, Florida of a stroke, aged 83.