This is a 20th century pop culture blog, and somehow, 12 years and 1034 posts in, the topic of Golden Throats, celebrities and TV stars who tried their hand at crooning, with mixed results, has never been the topic of a post, until now. We'll start with the romantic sounds of Telly "Kojak" Savalas. Bill Medley, Bobby Hatfield and Phil Spector, eat your hearts out!
Jack Webb was married to the super talented songstress Julie London. Why shouldn't he give singing a try?
Lorne Greene was the star of the #1 rated television hit Bonanza. Why shouldn't ultra-macho patriarch Ben Cartwright perform Bonanza's theme song, as well as two-fisted western ditties in French?
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This semi-scholarly ride through pop culture tumbleweeds also extends to crooners who, in hopes of boosting record sales, waxed tunes that could not be a worse stylistic fit. For example, this Beatles cover by Der Bingle.
The great Mel Tormé recorded some of this music fan's favorite albums, first at Verve Records and later in collaboration with pianist George Shearing, but the following Donovan tune is. . . definitely not a fit for swingin' Mel.
Teenage pop star from the 1950's, songwriter and subsequent Vegas entertainer Paul Anka sounds a lot like Richard "Dick" Cheese in this Nirvana cover.
Actually, Frank Sinatra Jr. sounds fabulous delivering the theme song from Gumby cartoons. Really.
Do we like James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock from the first Star Trek, both of whom clearly had aspirations to sing like Bing? Yes. We even like the Filmmation animated Star Trek produced in 1973-1974 and wish there could have been at least one cartoon in which the cast members double as crooners.
Now imagining DeForest Kelley as Dr. "Bones" McCoy singing "Got To Get You Into My Life," we at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, as big fans of Spock n' Kirk as anyone, note that both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy did their very best to either sing pop songs or deliver their lyrics as dramatic readings. There was even a music video produced to promote the 1968 album Two Sides Of Leonard Nimoy.
We admit it - the William Shatner records are not-that-guilty pleasures. Tough for us to make fun of them - we like them, if nothing else for Shatner's undeniable chutzpah.
Shatner's rendition of the Elton John-Bernie Taupin 1972 pop hit Rocket Man is quite enjoyable. It's 3 Sides of William Shatner!
Others must agree with this blogger, as Shatner has revived his recording career and done some interesting stuff along the way.
Much of this focus on TV star pop recordings and veteran showbiz mega-stars trying to "get hep" to appeal to youth started with the extremely funny Dave's Record Collection segments from Late Night With David Letterman, mostly from the 1980's NBC version of the show. Has this once cutting-edge cult hit, now completely unknown to those under the age of 40, still hold up well? You be the judge.
Someone has done us the favor of posting compilations of all the Dave's Record Collection segments.
Very likely heavily influenced by the Dave's Record Collection segments, Rhino Records staffer Gary Peterson, pop culture historian Pat Sierchio and writer Irwin Chusid collaborated on four Golden Throats compilations, chock full of questionable celebrity decisions and songs that in some respects transcend what used to be called "camp".
At times when absolutely nothing can get the grey skies to lift in these dark days, it's time for the heavy artillery: ALL FOUR Golden Throats collections from Rhino Records.
Golden Throats 1: The Great Celebrity Sing Off
Golden Throats 2: More Celebrity Rock Oddities
Golden Throats 3: Sweethearts Of Rodeo Drive
Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher The Beatles
As far as we know, there is no duet recording featuring Maurice Gosfeld and Allan Melvin warbling September Song - and that's probably a good thing.
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