Art Lund

b. Arthur London, 1 April 1915, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, d. 2 June 1990, Salt Lake City, Iowa, USA. An actor and singer, with a fine, strong baritone voice and rugged good looks, Lund sang with Jimmy Joy’s Band, before attracting the attention of a far more famous clarinet leader, Benny Goodman, in the late 30s. During his two spells with Goodman in the 40s, which were separated by a four-year stint with the US Navy in the South Pacific, he duetted with Peggy Lee on a recording of ‘Winter Weather’, and also sang on other band sides such as ‘Don’t Be A Baby, Baby’, ‘I Don’t Know Enough About You’ and the immensely popular ‘Blue Skies’. When he went solo in 1947, Lund immediately had a US number 1 with Mack Gordon and Edmund Goulding’s lovely ballad, ‘Mam’selle’, which he followed, through until 1953, with other hits such as ‘Peg O’ My Heart’, ‘And Mimi’, ‘But Beautiful’, ‘Love Is So Terrific’, ‘Hair Of Gold’ (with the Crew Chiefs), ‘You Call Everybody Darling’, ‘On A Slow Boat To China’, ‘I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm’, ‘Mona Lisa’, ‘Cincinatti Ding Dong’, and ‘Crying In The Chapel’. During the early 50s Lund appeared in a number of provincial productions of musicals such as Wonderful Town, Fiorello!, and No Strings, as well as various straight plays. In 1956, he created the role of Joey in Frank Loesser’s hit musical, The Most Happy Fella, on Broadway. He also appeared in the 1960 London production, starred in two New York City Center revivals. Lund’s other Broadway musicals, Donnybrook! (1963), in which he played a prize-fighter with a conscience, and Sophie (1963), a celebration of the life of Sophie Tucker, both flopped. From the 50s onwards, he appeared on US television in programmes such as Gunsmoke, Little House On The Prairie, and The Rockford Files, and in the late 60s he began to appear in feature films. In later years, Lund sang at Swing Era nostalgia nights, and was reported to be working in cabaret shortly before he died.