Mario Lanza recorded this song on November 29, 1951 for his weekly radio show, with Ray Sinatra conducting. Written by Ray Henderson (music) and Lew Brown (lyrics), it was first recorded in 1931 by Rudy Vallee and, shortly afterwards, by Bing Crosby. (Note: It is sometimes confused with the 1951 song of the same name that was later popularized by B.B. King.)
Lanza's recording of "The Thrill Is Gone" was first released on LP in 1954 (on the RCA album A Kiss and Other Love Songs), and on CD in 1998 on BMG's When Day Is Done.
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#9 One Alone (Radio Show, 1952)
Lanza recorded his first version of "One Alone" from the 1926 operetta The Desert Song (Romberg-Hammerstein-Harbach-Mandel) for his weekly radio show on April 29, 1952. Ray Sinatra was the conductor. This recording first appeared on CD in 1998 on the BMG disc Mario Lanza: When Day is Done.
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#10 One Alone (RCA, 1959)
_Mario Lanza recorded his second version of "One Alone" at one of his final recording sessions in Rome in September 1959 (exact date unknown), barely a month before he died on October 7, 1959. Lanza's brief hospitalization in August for pneumonia had resulted in the unusual decision by RCA to record the orchestra's contribution without the tenor present. Upon his release from the Valle Giulia Clinic, Lanza then recorded his vocals, singing along with the prerecorded accompaniment. Constantine Callinicos was the conductor.
The version featured here is the so-called "raw" recording of "One Alone"---that is, without the choir that RCA added to the rendition after Lanza's death. It is available on the 2017 Sepia Records CD One Alone.
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