Eddy Howard Biography

Born, 12 September 1914, Woodland, California, USA, d. 23 May 1963, Palm Desert, California, USA. Mild romantic balladeer Eddy Howard was a huge name in the 1940s and early '50s. Reeling off a few dozen hit singles in the post-war years, he rarely went uptempo or derivated from good-natured paeans to heart-to-heart bliss. After attending San Jose State College and Stanford University Medical School, Howard sang on radio and worked with bands led by George Olsen, Tom Gerun and Ben Bernie, eventually becoming the resident crooner with the Dick Jurgens Orchestra in 1934. Howard spent nearly six years with Jurgens, and had hits with "My Last Goodbye" and "Careless", both his own compositions. In 1941, after a short spell as a solo act, he formed his own band, basing its style on the popular Isham Jones Orchestra. This brought him success with "To Each His Own", "My Adobe Ha‡ienda", "I Wonder, I Wonder", "An Apple Blossom Wedding" and "Now Is The Hour", all Top 20 recordings. In 1949 Howard signed to Mercury Records, and during the early 50s supplied the label with such major hits as "Maybe It's Because", "Be Anything, But Be Mine", "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" and "Sin".

"To Each His Own." "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons," "My Adobe Hacienda," "I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder," "Room Full of Roses," "Sin (It's No Sin)," and "Auf Weidersehn Sweetheart" were some of the biggest smashes he enjoyed prior to the mid-'50s, when the emergence of rock & roll displaced him from the airwvaes. Beset by ill health, Howard decided to go solo again, though he did re-form his band later and made a slight impression on a rapidly changing music scene with his final success, "The Teenagers Waltz".

He was a fixture on the casino circuit when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1963.