Lobosco wrote:

Does anyone remember the forgotten singer Dick Todd? He was pretty famous in the late 30s, and he even had a "feud" with Bing for awhile...

David, you open the door to a small 'hobbyhorse' of mine - the subject of overcoming similarities in performance to obtain independent recognition.

Dick had a way with a song and despite the appellation 'The Canadian Crosby' had his own distinctive husky voice. Yet the comparison stuck. Perhaps it was as much the style and material but maybe mostly the ill conceived publicity that invited it.

The unhappy fact is that pretty well all the singers who invited the comparison with Bing,  (or had it thrust upon them), faced real difficulty. It merely made the mountain they needed to climb for independent recognition that much higher.  A great pity, because they remained under Bing's long shadow. Dick Todd, Buddy Clarke, to some extent Al Bowlly, and possibly most of all Michael Holliday, who self -consciously moulded himself on Bing in almost every respect but became a wrecked bag of nerves -  he was singing Bing's songs in Bing's style (with a whole LP 'To Bing from Mike').

How could any of them fully succeed in gaining independent recognition? Others - Frank S., Dean Martin among the more prominent, while acknowledging the stylistic thread, managed to break the mould and develop their own individual approach. If they cover the same material, not even a casual listener will mistake the performer.  But no one, least of all they themselves, invited comparison with Bing.

I agree with you as well Jarbie. I do not think Dick Todd "tried" to sing like Bing - I do not think he was an imitator. I think he was more "cursed" with sounding like Bing - cursed in the sense that he would be forever compared to Bing.

I have nearly all of Dick Todd's recordings, and while he does sound like Bing, he really had a pleasant sounding voice. He had a way with a song even up until his last recording in 1969. I think Todd might have had greater success if his personal demons did not take over after the war.

If anyone can get hold of Sheldon O'Connell's book on Dick Todd, I recommend it. It is one of my prized possessions and through writing to Sheldon, I was in touch with Dick Todd Jr in the late 1990s.

Hey Ron - if you talk to Bob let him know I featured an article on him on my blog. I talked to him a few times in the early days of my time with Club Crosby, but he is a great guy!

Getting back to Dick Todd, I recently got hold of his last recording from 1969. Even though within 4 years of that recording he was living homeless in NY, Dick still had a great voice. It is a shame!