Connie Coidarini of The Four Lads Has Died At Age 80

Corrado "Connie" Codarini, original bass singer with the Four Lads, died Wednesday (April 28) in Concord, North Carolina at the age of 80. Originally formed by choir members at St. Michael's Church in Toronto, the quartet began performing in clubs there. One night while they performed an imitation of the Golden Gate Quartet, the leader of the group was in the audience and phoned his manager in New York to hear it. That led to an invitation to the Big Apple where club and TV appearances led to a 1951 contract with Columbia Records, who soon used them as backup singer for Johnnie Ray on hits like "Cry" (#1-1951), "The Little White Clod That Cried" (#2-1951) and "Please Mr. Sun" (#6-1952). Moving on to their own recording the Lads charted 28 times between 1951 and 1959, including "Moments To Remember " (#2-1955), "No Not Much" (#2-1956), "Standing On The Corner" (#3-1956) , "Skokiaan" (#7-1954), "Put A Light In The Window" (#8-1958), "Who Needs You" (#9-1957) and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople" (#10-1953). Connie left the group in 1961 and started a restaurant. The Four Lads were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.