Las Vegas legend Sonny King
bellytalker
King" and perhaps best known as the singer who introduced Jerry Lewis
to Dean Martin) passed away this afternoon of congestive heart failure.
RIP, Sonny.
Details to follow....
e. saxon
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Feb-04-Sat-2006/news/5716474.
html
Feb. 04, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
NORM: King leaves rich Las Vegas legacy
Sonny King was as much a chunk of Las Vegas history as the neon along
the Strip.
Before he was a local lounge institution and Jimmy Durante's sidekick,
it was King who introduced Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis in the 1940s. In
the 1960s, he ran with The Rat Pack.
King, a 50-year Las Vegas resident, died Friday at age 83, wearing a
straw hat, after a fierce battle with throat cancer. He died on the 88th
birthday of longtime pal Joey Bishop, the jokester of The Rat Pack.
He was a storyteller supreme, the go-to guy for many a reporter looking
for an old Vegas anecdote.
During an interview a few years back, he told me he roomed with Martin
for 6 1/2 years at the Bryant Hotel on 54th Street in New York City.
"They put out a plaque that said, 'Dean Martin and Sonny King lived here
and never paid the rent.' " Not true, said Sonny. "We would sing at all
their functions in lieu of the rent."
Hired by Sahara entertainment director Bill Miller in 1955, King became
part of the iconic lounge era with Sahara stars Louie Prima and Keely
Smith.
In the 1940s, after introducing Martin and Lewis, they made up a trio
called "The Three Lads" and performed all over New York.
"Sonny got a chance to do a gig in the Catskills, and he left for a few
weeks," said King's wife, Peggy. "The rest, as they say, is history."
Martin and Lewis went on to become show business megastars.
In article <1139021813.1...@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Hyfler/Rosner
"e. saxon" <rhonda....@rcndot.com> wrote in message
news:rhonda.enteract-
> King, a 50-year Las Vegas resident, died Friday at age 83,
> wearing a
> straw hat, after a fierce battle with throat cancer.
Well, there's an obit detail I'm grateful for.
deb...@comcast.net
Sonny King, former Jimmy Durante sidekick, dies at 83
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Sonny King, a longtime sidekick of Jimmy Durante and a
veteran Las Vegas lounge singer, died Friday after undergoing treatment
for cancer. He was 83.
King died at his Las Vegas home after bouts with tongue and throat
cancer, said his older brother, Donald Schiavone, of Las Vegas.
"He's been a legend in this town," Schiavone said Saturday. "He knew
all the greats and they knew him."
King was Durante's partner for 28 years until Durante died in 1980.
They appeared together on Ed Sullivan's show five times in the 1960s.
King once said his rapport with Durante was unexplainable.
"I don't know if it was spiritual, but we looked at each other and we
couldn't stop laughing," he recalled. "The audience caught on, and they
were laughing, too."
King broke into the Las Vegas entertainment scene at Sahara's Casbar
Lounge in 1955 and was later dubbed "Lounge Giant" by Frank Sinatra.
King performed in Las Vegas through last summer, when he became too
weakened from radiation treatments to continue.
"He was the last of that era of Las Vegas," entertainer Nelson Sardelli
told the Las Vegas Sun. "He was part of the real Las Vegas scene. If
there was ever a man who was the epitome of what an entertainer is all
about, it was Sonny King."
While King was never considered part of the Rat Pack, he was close
friends with Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and its other members.
He also appeared in the Rat Pack movies "Robin and the Seven Hoods" and
"Sergeants 3."
He roomed with Martin for 6 1/2 years during their formative New York
years and introduced him to Jerry Lewis, who became Martin's partner.
"The entertainment world has lost a great one," Las Vegas entertainer
Frank Scinta told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
King was born Luigi Antonio Schiavone in Brooklyn, N.Y., on April 1,
1922. He learned much of the business from his father Georgie King, who
performed at the Paramount Club in New York City.
Vaudeville greats Al Jolson and Sophie Tucker also mentored the young
King.
Other survivors include King's wife, Peggy, a daughter and three sons,
and a sister.
While there will be no funeral, plans for a memorial service at St.
Viator Catholic Church were pending.