RIP Gene Merlino

 

Tribute to Gene Merlino (1928-2024)

In the shadow of the studios…

By Rémi Carémel

January 21, 2024

 

I learned with sadness this week, from several of his friends, of the death on January 8, 2024 of Gene Merlino in Camarillo (California, United States). The legendary American chorister was 95 years old. In 2022, I was lucky enough to be able to get in touch with him, through his son John, to ask him questions about the English version of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1966) in which he had participated.

Gene Merlino was born on April 5, 1928, in San Francisco, into a family of Italian origin. After graduating, he left university at the age of 22 to join various big bands, first as a saxophonist and then as an orchestra singer. He left San Francisco for Los Angeles, singing for television on The Ray Anthony Show during the 1956-1957 season, giving him national visibility.

For television, he has appeared on many variety shows: The Red Skelton Show, The Pearl Bailey Show, The Judy Garland Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Julie Andrews Hour, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, etc.

With a beautiful ambitus (sometimes singing tenor, sometimes bass-baritone), a warm timbre and beautiful talents as a performer, Gene Merlino joins the team of backup singers in Los Angeles (members of the famous Wrecking Crew) for the recordings of songs, film scores, vocal groups, etc. and became one of the most important figures in this profession.

For the song, he accompanied Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Sarah Vaughan, Elvis Presley, etc.

He was part of most of the major American vocal groups from the 60s to the 80s, such as the vocal quartet The Mellomen (from 1966), The Ray Conniff Singers, Paul Johnson Voices, The Johnny Mann Singers, The Ron Hicklin Singers, The Ralph Carmichael Singers, etc. Perhaps the most important of his career are the vocal quartet, the Anita Kerr Singers and the L.A. Voices, two groups with which he has received several Grammy Awards.

For the cinema, he starred with Elvis Presley in Girls and Show Business (1969) and sang the voice of John Kerr in Tea and Sympathy (1956) and Franco Nero in Camelot (1967). As he revealed to me (I invite you to read this article), Gene Merlino is also the singing voice of Guillaume Lancien in the English version of Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1966), recorded in Hollywood under the direction of Michel Legrand and Jacques Demy.

He has participated in hundreds of film music choir sessions since the 60s for Henry Mancini (Hatari!, The Great Race Around the World), Burt Bacharach (Distant Horizons), etc. from the 80s for Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid), Georges Delerue (Au fil de la vie with Bette Midler), to the 2000s (notably with the Hollywood Film Chorale of our friend Sally Stevens) for Alan Silvestri (Van Helsing), James Newton Howard (Peter Pan), Don Davis (The Matrix Revolutions), etc. For television, he sang as a soloist in several episodes of The Simpsons.

Under pseudonyms (Gene Marshall, etc.), he recorded more than 10,000 "song poems" for various specialized companies, those song lyrics written and sent by amateur lyricists who paid a certain amount to be set to music and recorded, like demos. This story resulted in a documentary: Off the Charts: The Song Poems Story (2003).

Gene Merlino has one of the longest-serving jobs in the industry (retiring around 2010, after a 60-year career). His humour and kindness make him a benevolent and encouraging elder for several generations of choristers. He's a giant of the studio who is leaving us. My most affectionate thoughts go out to his son John and to my friends and contacts who were his closest microphone mates (Sally Stevens, Jackie Ward, Bob Tebow, Ron Hicklin).

MERLINO, Gene (Mario Gino Merlino)

Born: 4/5/1928, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

Died: 1/8/2024, Camarillo, California, U.S.A.

 

Gene Merlino’s western – stuntman:

Three Amigos - 1986