Tony Martin

A popular crooner of the 1940s and '50s, Tony Martin's deliberate delivery and romantic ballads were more in keeping with vintage movie musicals than the currents that would shape the pop music of the last half of the 20th century. Taking his inspiration from singers like Russ Columbo, he had already been in some Hollywood musicals by the time he made his first hit record in 1938, "Now It Can Be Told" (with the Ray Noble Orchestra). Drafted into the Navy during World War II, rumors that he'd bribed his way into an officer's commission made work tougher to find after his discha...