Jerry Vale

Birth Name:

Gennaro Louis Vitaliano

Birth Date:

July 8, 1930

Birth Place:

The Bronx, New York

Death Date:

May 18, 2014

Place of Death:

40960 Glenmore Dr, Palm Desert, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Natural causes

Cemetery Name:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

A tenor with a smooth, polished delivery, Vale was a longtime fixture at Columbia Records who recorded more than 50 albums and hundreds of songs. He first hit the charts in 1953 with “You Can Never Give Me Back My Heart”. His other enchanting hits included “Volare,” “Al Di La,” “Two Purple Shadows,” a cover of Eddy Arnold‘s “You Don’t Know Me,” “I Live Each Day,” “Have You Looked Into Your Heart,” “Dommage, Dommage (Too Bad, Too Bad)” and “My Little Girl (Angel All A-Glow).” The boyish Vale sang all over the world during his long career, including at Carnegie Hall in New York and in Las Vegas, where his friend, Frank Sinatra, set him up with a gig at The Sands in the ’50s that would last for 22 weeks, four shows a day. Vale, who was of Italian descent, showed his love of Italian music with his albums, I Have But One Heart (1962) and Arrivederci, Roma (1963), full of Italian standards such as "Amore, Scusami", "Ciao, Ciao, Bambina", "Arrivederci, Roma", and "O Sole Mio". His renditions of "Volare", "Innamorata (Sweetheart)", and "Al di là" became classic Italian-American songs. Vale performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, made cameo appearances as himself in the Martin Scorsese films Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995) and played a lounge singer in the independent comedy A Wake in Providence (1999). He passed away in his sleep at his Palm Desert home.

Fun Facts

Not only did Jerry Vale appear in Martin Scorsese films, Scorsese made it a point to load up the soundtrack with many of Jerry’s classic Italian-American songs.

A close and longtime friend of Frank Sinatra, Vale served as an honorary pallbearer at Sinatra’s 1998 funeral.

Vale is portrayed by Steven Van Zandt in the 2019 film The Irishman.

Vale suffered a stroke in 2002 and did not perform in his later years.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Forest Lawn Cemetery

69855 Ramon Road

Cathedral City, California, 92234

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California

Grave Location:

Mission Santa Rosa, West Interior Wall, Crypt 5G

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery, take an immediate left at the fountain and walk to the Mission Santa Rosa outdoor mausoleum. Turn right and look to the very top row for the legendary crooner Jerry Vale.