For those unaware, Georgie Shaw was one of the old-school big-voiced pop singes of the early 1950s, somewhat in the mold of Eddie Fisher, who had to try to adapt to the cataclysmic changes in the pop market heralded by the arrival of rock ’n’ roll in the charts.

The fact that his last hit came in 1956 maybe tells its own story, but his versatility kept him competitive through to the end of the decade. This 45-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides of his singles on Decca and MGM/Metro from these years, plus all the tracks from his Decca album One For My Baby.

It features his US pop hits Till We Two Are One, Somebody Else’s Love Song and A Faded Summer Love, and his duet hit with Kitty Kallen Go On With The Wedding. He was a stylish and extrovert performer, able to turn his hand to different strands of pop, and this collection is an enjoyable showcase for a talented vocalist who, had he arrived on the scene a few years earlier, could have been a much bigger star.

The son of a bricklayer, Georgie grew up near 10th and Oregon Streets and graduated in 1947 from South Philadelphia High School. His first job was selling bed linens at the old Frank & Seder department store at 11th and Market Streets.

In 1952, he married Tracey Fiore, who worked at a modeling school, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1967. In 1954, he kissed off his career selling sheets and began singing at a Cherry Hill nightclub, the Smart Spot.

A few weeks later, talent agent Danny Kessler liked what he heard and signed him up. Georgie landed in New York with a contract with Decca Records and began singing at top spots, including the old Latin Casino in Philadelphia, the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Steel Pier and 500 Club in Atlantic City, and Chez Paree in Chicago.

Georgie recorded two hits that sold more than a million copies each, the brilliant No Arms Can Ever Hold You and Till We Two Are One and from 1954 to 1962, he earned about $250,000 a year. However, by 1962, he was in decline. He was $100,000 in debt, had filed for bankruptcy, and was drinking heavily. He opened a nightclub at 22d and Walnut Streets, the Tradewinds, but that didn’t last long.

Afterward, his records did not sell and his yearly income fell to below $10,000 a year and he in 1967, he borrowed money to open a club at 1907 Sansom St., Georgie Shaw’s; but that club also closed quickly also.

Georgie made his last Philadelphia appearance in 1971 at the Parkway Room at the Parkway House, 22d and Spring Garden Streets and soon moved to Las Vegas, where he worked as a bar boy at hotels on the strip for $125 a week. He was also briefly married to a woman from Idaho named Jackie, her last name unknown in the research I did.

In 1976, while working as a bar boy at the Copa Room where 20 years earlier he was the supporting act for Tallulah Bankhead, he finally hit bottom, but still managed to marry Mary Ann Berlangieri in 1980. He was also hired as a bartender at the Marina Hotel in Las Vegas. Luckily for him, the hotel’s entertainment director listened to Georgie’s old records and told him to get his voice in shape for possible singing shifts.

With hopes of rekindling his singing career, Georgie returned to Philadelphia to study voice with his old coach, John Palmer. Then he went to Vegas, but his career went nowhere. He came back to Philadelphia in 1981 and retired. He split his time between homes in South Philadelphia and Margate, N.J. Sadly, Georgie died on September 1st, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Disc 1:
1. Rags To Riches; 2. Let Me Go Devil; 3. Honeycomb; 4. Till We Two Are One; 5. A Fool In The Ways Of Love; 6. There Must Be Some Mistake; 7. Somebody Else’s Love Song; 8. Wonderful; 9. Yearning (Just For You); 10. Unsuspecting Heart; 11. I’ll Step Aside; 12. The Water Tumbler Theme; 13. Do It Now; 14. There’s An Old Saying; 15. I Can Tell; 16. No Arms Can Ever Hold You; 17. Look To Your Heart; 18. Go On With The Wedding; 19. The Second Greatest Sex; 20. To You, My Love; 21. Fallen Angel (Are You Sorry); 22. This Same Heart; 23. Haunting Love

Disc 2:
1. A Faded Summer Love; 2. My Heart Isn’t In It; 3. Suddenly (The Meeting); 4. City Of Tears; 5. Too Proud To Cry; 6. At The Get Acquainted Dance; 7. Don’t Forget; 8. I’ll Always Be In Love With You; 9. Lover Or Friend; 10. Maybe You’ll Be There; 11. Once In A While; 12. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) 13. You Don’t Know What Love Is; 14. For All We Know; 15. That’s All; 16. Detour Ahead; 17. Love Letters; 18. I Dream Of You (More Than You Dream I Do); 19. Alone; 20. I Wanna Be Loved; 21. Like Someone In Love; 22. Long Ago (And Far Away)

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