Sonny King (singer)

Sonny King (April 1, 1922 – February 3, 2006) was an American lounge singer.

He was born as Luigi Antonio Schiavone on April 1, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the sidekick of Jimmy Durante for 28 years until Durante's death in 1980. They appeared together on the Ed Sullivan Show five times in the 1960s. King shared a New York apartment with Dean Martin when the two were struggling entertainers, and is credited with introducing Martin to a young comedian Jerry Lewis. Though not an official member, he was close friends with many Rat Pack entertainers and appeared in the Rat Pack movies "Robin and the Seven Hoods" and "Sergeants 3". King moved to Las Vegas in the early 50's and was a fixture on the strip and local clubs until his death. Blessed with a powerful voice and a quick wit, Sonny King could charm and entertain young and old.

Excerpt from a review:

"It was the third show at 3a.m. and the lounge was packed. King and Co. came out and rocked hard from the get-go. Joey Vespi was the young savage on the drums who was already sweating while Vido Musso was furiously blaring his sax like a possessed voodoo spirit. The bass player who filled in that week was ignited by Sonnys explosiveness and was holding on to the pace for dear life. They came on after Gus Mancuso, who had a well-stocked orchestra, and still made that 3-piece roar louder. They were tuned into some primal source coupled with the white-hot mixture of cocktails and adrenaline. Sonny was the man conducting the rollercoaster ride while ad libbing and ducking in and out of syncopated rhythms. In between songs he made people cry laughing and laugh crying. He covered every angle from the Yiddish punch lines born out of the “Borscht Belt” in the Catskill circuit to the Lenny Bruce street humor that even made the mafia hit men blush. His wit was razor sharp and he cut the audience to ribbons. Elvis would come to his shows and study him like magnificent specimen. Sinatra who was smoother and more internationally popular, paid his respect to Sonny’s brilliance by having him write jokes for Rat Pack performances and dubbed him a “lounge giant.” It was amazing, though, how he could span any age range with his voice and humor. He could entertain anyone because his genius lied in his chameleon-like way of systematically winning over every person in that audience. He had peripheral humor. There was no escaping him. You would see prostitutes, pit bosses and priests watching him all in the same room. His shtick was the great equalizer. And if you were a heckler he would turn your comments into his ammunition, which either left you a convert or a mute. That skill came from his training during his years in vaudeville. Sonny was there in the beginning. When you think of the classic Vegas lounge singer, Sonny was the foundation and a big part of that structure. He was a burly, roughly handsome, Italian-American crooner who could tear the house down with only a piano or rule an auditorium with a full band. He was an American art form in living color who celebrated life with a rockin’ lounge spirit raging inside his soul."

He died on February 3, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada of cancer, aged 83.