Perry was born into an Italian family on May the 18th 1912 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. By the age of fourteen he owned his own barber shop where he sang to his appreciative customers. In 1933 Perry married his high school sweetheart Roselle Beline who bore him a daughter and two sons. Later Perry was to leave his barber shop to go on the road with the local band of Freddie Carlone, as their singer and the rest is history. In the 1950s he was to become one of the Best revered of singers, rivaling the likes of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby.Perry continued down the years to make records, to broadcast on the radio and on television and later on to perform in concert. His last Christmas TV special was filmed at the Point Theatre, Dublin, Ireland in January 1994. The Audience of four thousand five hundred included his friend Maureen O'Hara and the then president of the Irish Republic, Mary Robinson. When Perry died in his sleep on May the 12th 2001, millions of people throughout the world mourned the passing of a greatly loved singer.