Late Life Jazz: The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney (50 page)

December 31–January 2, 1993
. Rosemary performs at the Jupiter Theater in Florida.

January 8
. Is nominated for a Grammy for her
Girl Singer
album. She loses out to Tony Bennett’s
Perfectly Frank
album.

February 10–27
. Appears at Rainbow and Stars, New York.

February 10
. Rosemary is rushed to the New York Hospital by ambulance about 10
P.M
. after becoming ill during her Rainbow and Stars act. She is kept under observation in the emergency room for several hours and released early the next day.

March 22
. Receives her second MAC award for her engagement in 1992 at Rainbow and Stars.

April 20
. Hosts
Singers’ Salute to the Songwriter
, a concert to aid the Betty Clooney Foundation at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles.

May 12
. Hosts
The Singers’ Salute to the Country Songwriter
at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to raise funds for the Betty Clooney Foundation.

May 22
. Rosemary and Linda Ronstadt sing with the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by John Williams at Symphony Hall, Boston. The show is taped and shown on PBS-TV in August.

June 18
. Takes part in a celebration of the Newport Jazz Festival at the White House in Washington, DC. The show is taped for broadcast on PBS stations on September 12.

June 25–28
. Performs with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops at Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh.

July 1–4
. Entertains at Merv Griffin’s Resorts, Atlantic City.

July 26–31
. Rosemary entertains at the North Shore Music Theater, Beverly, Massachusetts.

August 13
. Sings at the Newport Casino as part of the JVC Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island.

November 1
. Presents a major tribute to Bing Crosby at Carnegie Hall, New York.

November 11–13
. Joins the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three performances.

December
.
Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas Party
, with Debby Boone again supporting Rosemary, appears at various locations during the month.

February 2–26
. Appears at Rainbow and Stars, New York.

July 8–9
. Entertains with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at the Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

July 12–17
. Sings with Disney’s All-American College Big Band at Epcot ’94.

July 20–25
. Rosemary entertains at TropWorld Casino, Atlantic City.

August 10
. Entertains in the
Jazz at the Bowl
concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

September 20
. Enters Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and has a kidney stone removed. Goes home two days later.

September 29
. Appears in
ER
playing “Mary Cavanaugh/Madame X” in the episode: “Going Home.”

November / December
. Rosemary has bronchial pneumonia and withdraws from the
Rosemary Clooney White Christmas Party
shows planned for various locations during late November/early December.

December 15
. Again appears in
ER
in an episode called “The Gift.” Is nominated for an Emmy for her performance.

January 20–21
. Appears at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis.

February 8–March 4
. Appears at Rainbow and Stars, New York.

May 29–31
. Rosemary performs at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City.

June 6
. Receives the Pied Piper Award from ASCAP at the Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC.

July 26
. Sings at Carnegie Hall in a concert celebrating the music of Frank Sinatra.

July 29
. Appears at the Concord Pavilion.

Still weakened and hobbling as the result of major knee and leg surgery and bone replacement, Clooney delivered a mellow batch of songs, chatted about her new lifestyle (“I’ve quit my three-pack-a-day smoking habit and given up two stiff martinis before dinner,” she said. “So I asked my doctor at the Mayo Clinic, ‘How about my weight?’ and she answered, ‘You’ve given up enough for now’”).

(Philip Elwood,
San Francisco Examiner
, July 31, 1995)

August 4–5
. Rosemary appears with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

August 11–13
. Appears with the All-American College Jazz Band at the America Gardens Theater, Epcot, Florida.

August 17
. At the Pleasure Island Jazz Company club in Disney World, tapes “Rosemary Clooney’s Demi-Centennial: A Girl Singer’s Golden Anniversary.” The show is broadcast on the A&E channel on November 11.

November 25
. Presents her
White Christmas Party
show, with daughter-in-law Debby and various family members, at Pueblo’s State Fair Events Center, Colorado. The show goes on to Toronto, Canada, and other locations in the United States.

December 28
. Rosemary attends the funeral of Dean Martin.

Dean Martin wanted it His Way—his funeral Thursday evening at Pierce Brothers cemetery in Westwood. … Rosemary Clooney closed the services singing “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, mine included.

(
Variety
, December 29, 1995)

February 6–March 2
. Appears at Rainbow and Stars, New York.

May 26
. Rosemary performs with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Symphony Hall, St. Louis.

June 14
. Receives an award at the International Jazz Hall of Fame awards event at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Florida.

June 23
. Rosemary commences recording an album for Concord called
Mothers & Daughters
. It is nominated for a Grammy but loses out to a Tony Bennett album.

August 1
. Performs with the San Francisco Symphony Pops in Davies Hall, San Francisco.

August 4
. Rosemary and Michael Feinstein appear at the Riverbend Music Centre, Cincinnati, Ohio.

“I’m really glad to be here,” Rosemary Clooney told the audience at Riverbend Music Center Sunday night. “Of course I say that 364 nights a year, but I really mean it. I’ve got a house right up the river and I slept in my own bed last night!” she explained. Yes, Maysville, Ky.’s Rosemary Clooney came home Sunday—and it was a family affair. She dedicated one of her first selections to “THE nephew—George Timothy Clooney.” The song: “We’re in the money.”

(
The Cincinnati Post
, August 5, 1996)

September 19
. Performs in a tribute to Nelson Riddle at Carnegie Hall as part of the Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival.

December 2–19
. Entertains at the Sands Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City. Her show is called
Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas Party
.

December 20
. Tapes a show with the Boston Pops in Boston which is televised in December 1997.

January 24
. Rosemary and Dolores Hope sell out the 1,129-seat McCallum Theater in Palm Desert. The proceeds go to a charity.

April
. Rosemary and Dante visit Rome and have an audience with the Pope.

May 11–24
. Appears with Dolores Hope at the Rainbow and Stars club.

July 18
. Appears with Vic Damone in the Concord Pavilion, California, as part of the Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival.

October 14–25
. Sings at Rainbow and Stars, New York.

November 7
. Marries Dante DiPaolo at St. Patrick Church, Maysville, Kentucky.

December 1–19
. Appears at the Sands Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City. The show is called
Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas Party
.

January 16–17
. Performs in a tribute to Nelson Riddle at Abravanel Hall, Salt Lake City.

February 11
. Because of illness, Rosemary has to postpone a concert due to take place at Carnegie Hall that night.

February 13
. Is due to perform at Stamford Palace, Connecticut, but this has to be canceled too. She goes to New York and is admitted to Lenox Hill Hospital. A spinal tap shows viral meningitis that has reached the brain. Rosemary is in a coma for three days before recovering.

May 12–23
. Entertains at Rainbow and Stars. Has to cancel her shows on May 21 and 22 due to laryngitis. Dolores Hope guests on May 23.

June 1
. Gives a concert with the Count Basie Orchestra and her own sextet in Carnegie Hall.

June 19–20
. Rosemary returns to Cincinnati to celebrate what she calls “the big 7-0” with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops at Riverbend.

July 22
. Stars with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

August 28
. Rosemary, Linda Ronstadt, and Michael Feinstein perform together at Harrah’s, Las Vegas.

October 5
. Is presented with the Society of Singers’ prestigious Ella Lifetime Achievement Award at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

November 1
. Cardinal Mahony presents the
Catholics in Media Lifetime Achievement Award
to Rosemary.

December 7
. Rosemary cancels a benefit appearance at Avery Fisher Hall due to physical exhaustion. Michael Feinstein takes her place.

December 11–12
. Appears with the National Symphony Orchestra Pops at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

April 17–18
. Appears at Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu with the Honolulu Symphony Pops.

July 16
. Gives a concert in Stuttgart, Germany, with Matt Catingub’s Big Kahuna & The Copa Cat Pack. The concert is broadcast by PBS in November as a special called “Swing It!” which is also narrated by Rosemary.

August 6
. Entertains at the Concord Pavilion in California at the Fujitsu Concord Jazz Festival with the Count Basie Orchestra.

September 25
. Goes to Maysville to headline “The Rosemary Clooney Music Festival” to save the Russell Theater, where her first film,
The Stars
Are Singing
, premiered in 1953. She performs on a covered outdoor stage on Third Street at 9
P.M
.

October 5–16
. Performs at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York.

November 22
. The Patsy’s Restaurant Family in New York hosts a spectacular party for Rosemary to publicize her book,
Girl Singer
, co-authored with Joan Barthel.

December 9–12
. Plays four nights at Dover Downs, Delaware. These are the only holiday shows she does this year.

February 6
. Entertains at the Beverly Hilton at the Society of Singers’ lifetime achievement event which sees the Ella award given to Tony Bennett.

April 14 / 16
. Rosemary and Michael Feinstein entertain at the Westbury Music Festival, Long Island.

May 30–June 10
. Performs at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York.

September 30
. Entertains at the Second Annual “Rosemary Clooney Music Festival” in Maysville.

November 27–December 3
. Appears at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York. Her show is called “Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas Party.”

March 27–April 7
. Performs at Feinstein’s at the Regency in New York. Her show is called “Sentimental Journey.”

April 1
. Is presented with the MAC Lifetime Achievement Award by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs.

April 25
. Sings at the Annual Ella Award dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel which honors Julie Andrews.

May 31
. The A & E Biography channel screens an hour-long tribute to Rosemary.

June 18
. Appears with Michael Feinstein at Festival Hall, London.

June 20
. Entertains with Michael Feinstein at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland.

September 10
. Sings at the Southern Governors’ Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Nick Clooney is the emcee. Vice-President Dick Cheney is in attendance and leaves for Washington, DC after Rosemary’s performance.

September 15
. Appears with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra at The Centre, Evansville.

September 29
. Appears at the third “Rosemary Clooney Music Festival” in Maysville with Michael Feinstein.

October
. Rosemary appears on
The View
on ABC-TV with Barbara Walters. This was probably Rosemary’s last appearance on national television.

November 16
. Appears at the Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu. The performance is subsequently issued on a CD “Rosemary Clooney: The Last Concert.”

December
. It is announced that Rosemary is one of the recipients of the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award to be presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

December
. Goes to the Mayo Clinic where it is discovered that she has a shadow on her left lung.