# Rosemary Clooney
**Rosemary Clooney** (May 23, 1928, Maysville, Kentucky – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress who rose to fame in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" and later built a second career as an interpreter of the [Great American Songbook](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-american-songbook).[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) She starred alongside [Bing Crosby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bing-crosby), Danny Kaye, and [Vera-Ellen](https://www.edgepedia.org/vera-ellen) in the 1954 film *White Christmas*, and her recording career stretched from 1946 until her death.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | May 23, 1928, Maysville, Kentucky; June 29, 2002, Beverly Hills, California[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) • [3](https://concord.com/artist/rosemary-clooney/) |
| Breakthrough | "Come On-a My House" (1951), sold over a million copies and topped the charts[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) |
| Hit run, 1951–1954 | 24 chart hits, seven in the Top 10, four reaching No. 1[4](https://njjs.org/wp-content/uploads/1611/72/4110_JerseyJazzFullIssue.pdf) |
| Signature film | *White Christmas* (1954), performing "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me"[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) |
| UK singles record | 2 No. 1s, 6 Top 10s, 4 weeks at No. 1, 81 weeks in the Top 75[5](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/90/rosemary-clooney/) |
| Grammy record | 8 nominations, 0 wins; Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002[6](https://www.grammy.com/artists/rosemary-clooney/8612/) |
| Second career | Signed to Concord Records in 1976; recorded songbook albums into 2001[7](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/discography/lastconcert/) |
## Early life and big-band years
Clooney grew up in Maysville, Kentucky, the daughter of Frances Guilfoyle and Andrew Clooney.[8](https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/api/collection/p16998coll39/id/700/download) When she was 13, her mother remarried and moved to California, leaving Rosemary and her younger sister Betty in their father's care; after he abandoned them at the end of World War II, the sisters supported themselves by collecting cans and bottles and entered amateur talent contests as a singing duo.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) They were saved from poverty when they successfully auditioned for a [Cincinnati](https://www.edgepedia.org/cincinnati) radio station later in 1945.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089)
Billed as the Clooney Sisters, the pair gave weekly radio performances until bandleader Tony Pastor discovered them; by the end of 1945 they had joined his orchestra as featured vocalists.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) Clooney's first recordings, in May 1946, were for [Columbia Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-records).[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) She cut her first solo record in 1946 but worked as a solo artist from 1948, when Betty stopped touring; Clooney stayed with Pastor until 1949, made her last recording with the band in May of that year, and signed a solo contract with Columbia a month later.[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) • [2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089)
## Pop stardom, 1951–1957
In 1951, producer and A&R man (label executive who finds artists and picks songs) [Mitch Miller](https://www.edgepedia.org/mitch-miller) pushed Clooney to record "Come On-a My House," an Italian-dialect novelty song co-written by Armenian-American cousins [William Saroyan](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-saroyan) and [Ross Bagdasarian](https://www.edgepedia.org/ross-bagdasarian), who later created the Chipmunks. Clooney hated the song and held out for weeks before giving in; despite her lifelong distaste for it, it sold over a million copies and topped the charts in 1951, making her a household name.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089)
Over the next few years she alternated between big-band swing and the novelty fare Miller insisted upon. Her hits included the chart-toppers "Half as Much," "Hey There," and "This Ole House," the Italian-style tunes "Botch-a-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciani Piccina)" and "Mambo Italiano," and repertoire staples such as "Tenderly" and "If Teardrops Were Pennies."[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) Between 1951 and 1954 she placed 24 songs on the charts, with seven in the Top 10 and four at No. 1.[4](https://njjs.org/wp-content/uploads/1611/72/4110_JerseyJazzFullIssue.pdf) In the United Kingdom, "This Ole House" and "Mambo Italiano" (with the Mellomen) each spent time at No. 1, and her seven charting singles logged 81 weeks in the Top 75.[5](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/90/rosemary-clooney/)
[Paramount Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/paramount-pictures) groomed her for movie stardom. She made her screen debut in 1953's *The Stars Are Singing*, followed by *Here Come the Girls*, *Red Garters*, and the hugely successful *White Christmas* (1954), in which she sang "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me," a number [Irving Berlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/irving-berlin) wrote for her.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) • [9](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/_1libraryfiles/newsday1993.html) Her repertoire matured in the mid-1950s: she recorded with [Duke Ellington](https://www.edgepedia.org/duke-ellington) on the 1956 album *Blue Rose* and with Benny Goodman, and tried country standards and Broadway show tunes.[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) In the latter half of the 1950s she began making LPs and continued making concept albums for almost the next fifty years; a 2013 *Dædalus* essay singles out her albums with the bands of Duke Ellington and Perez Prado and a disc of duets with Bing Crosby as evidence of her adaptability across postwar, pre-rock pop.[10](https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/daedalus/downloads/Fa2013_American-Music.pdf)
## Decline and comeback
Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction.[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) The Los Angeles Times obituary records that she overcame prescription-pill addiction and a nervous breakdown in the late 1960s.[11](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-rosemary-clooney-20020630-20160621-snap-story.html) She underwent years of therapy and recuperation before performing again in the early 1970s.[12](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/latelifejazz.htm)
The comeback took hold in 1977, when her *White Christmas* co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business.[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) She signed with Concord Records in 1976 and rebuilt herself as a jazz-flavored singer of American popular song, a reputation that placed her alongside figures like Crosby and [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra).[7](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/discography/lastconcert/) • [9](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/_1libraryfiles/newsday1993.html) In 1982 she toured in "Four Girls Four," a revue that alternately featured Margaret Whiting, Helen O'Connell, Rose Marie, Martha Raye, and Kay Starr.[13](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/clooney-rosemary-1928)
## Later recognition
From the 1990s on, Clooney was repeatedly nominated for Grammys in the traditional pop category: eight nominations in total, including *Girl Singer* (1993), *Do You Miss New York?* (1994), *Demi-Centennial!* (1996), *Dedicated to Nelson* (1997), *Mothers and Daughters* (1998), *Sentimental Journey* (2002), and *The Last Concert* (2004), with none converted into a win.[6](https://www.grammy.com/artists/rosemary-clooney/8612/) In 1996 she achieved her first No. 1 album, *Rosemary Clooney's White Christmas*, which topped the jazz charts for three weeks.[11](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-rosemary-clooney-20020630-20160621-snap-story.html) In 1995 she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role as "Madame X" on NBC's *ER*.[14](https://www.laphil.com/people/rosemary-clooney) • [15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167041/awards/) The Society of Singers awarded her its "Ella" Award in October 1998, and in 2002 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave her its Lifetime Achievement Award.[3](https://concord.com/artist/rosemary-clooney/)
Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2001. Around that time she gave her last concert, in Hawaii, backed by the Honolulu Symphony Pops; her last song was "God Bless America." She died on June 29, 2002, at her home in Beverly Hills.[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) • [3](https://concord.com/artist/rosemary-clooney/)
## Family
Clooney married the actor [José Ferrer](https://www.edgepedia.org/jose-ferrer) in 1953 after an abrupt courtship; the marriage ended in divorce, and she was the mother of the actor [Miguel Ferrer](https://www.edgepedia.org/miguel-ferrer).[2](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089) • [1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney) Her son Gabriel married the singer [Debby Boone](https://www.edgepedia.org/debby-boone), daughter of Pat Boone.[16](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167041/) She was sister to the television personality Nick Clooney and aunt of the Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney.[1](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney)
## References
1. [Rosemary Clooney, Songwriters Hall of Fame](https://www.songhall.org/profiles/rosemary-clooney)
2. [Rosemary Clooney, AllMusic biography](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p3089)
3. [Rosemary Clooney, Concord](https://concord.com/artist/rosemary-clooney/)
4. [Late Life Jazz: The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney (review), Jersey Jazz](https://njjs.org/wp-content/uploads/1611/72/4110_JerseyJazzFullIssue.pdf)
5. [Rosemary Clooney, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/90/rosemary-clooney/)
6. [Rosemary Clooney Grammy Awards and Nominations, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/rosemary-clooney/8612/)
7. [Rosemary Clooney: The Last Concert, rosemaryclooney.com](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/discography/lastconcert/)
8. [Rosemary Clooney, Cincinnati Library digital collection](https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/api/collection/p16998coll39/id/700/download)
9. [Time Has Made Rosemary Sage, Newsday (1993)](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/_1libraryfiles/newsday1993.html)
10. [Todd Decker, Pioneers of the Concept Album, Dædalus, Fall 2013](https://www.amacad.org/sites/default/files/daedalus/downloads/Fa2013_American-Music.pdf)
11. [From the Archives: Rosemary Clooney, Legendary Singer, Dies at 74, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/archives/la-me-rosemary-clooney-20020630-20160621-snap-story.html)
12. [Late Life Jazz: The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney, The Rosemary Clooney Palladium](https://www.rosemaryclooney.com/latelifejazz.htm)
13. [Clooney, Rosemary (1928–), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/clooney-rosemary-1928)
14. [Rosemary Clooney, LA Phil](https://www.laphil.com/people/rosemary-clooney)
15. [Rosemary Clooney, Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167041/awards/)
16. [Rosemary Clooney, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167041/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Traditional pop and vocal standards*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license