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Rosemarie Timotea Aurro Yuro, 4 August 1940, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 30 March 2004, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Born into an Italian-American family in Chicago, Yuro moved to Los Angeles as a child. Though discouraged by her father from singing, her mother paid for operatic training and she was later sent to the celebrated voice-coach Lilian Goodman. By the late 50s, Yuro was singing in her family's Italian restaurant Alvolturnos, one of the most popular music venues in the area. She was signed to Liberty Records in 1959 by the head of the company, Al Bennett, and recorded her most famous track, 'Hurt' in 1961. Produced by Clyde Otis, who had supervised many of Dinah Washington's hits, the dramatic ballad was a revival of Roy Hamilton's 1954 R&B hit. Yuro's searing white soul rendering entered the US Top 5 in 1961 (and also the R&B Top 30) and inspired numerous artists to cover the song, notably Elvis Presley, whose version was a Top 30 hit in 1976. The follow-ups 'I Apologize' and 'Smile' (written by Charlie Chaplin) made less impact, but in 1962, another R&B song 'What's A Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You)' reached the Top 20. Yuro also had minor hits with the country songs 'Make The World Go Away' (a greater success a couple of years later for Eddy Arnold) and 'Gotta Travel On'. Her Liberty albums contained a mix of standard ballads such as Mitchell Parish and Hoagy Carmichael's 'Star Dust', soul songs ('Hallelujah I Love Him So'), and country material (including two early Willie Nelson songs 'Permanently Lonely' and 'Are You Sure'), but mid-60s records for Mercury Records found Yuro veering towards a more mainstream cabaret repertoire. She returned to Liberty in the late 60s and travelled to London to record the cult album Something Bad On My Mind, which yielded several tracks that became favourites on the northern soul circuit. There were later records for Playboy Records (1975) but Yuro spent most of the 70s concentrating on raising her daughter. In 1980, she lost her voice and underwent three throat operations before recovering. The following year a reissued 'Hurt' was a big hit in the Netherlands and led to a new recording contract with Polydor Records. Her final album was financed by Willie Nelson, but soon afterwards Yuro's performing career was curtailed by serious illness. The throat cancer which destroyed her voice eventually mutated into the inoperable brain cancer which claimed her life in March 2004. Yuro had a remarkable voice with extraordinary power and depth. With the range of a Patsy Cline and the grit of a Brenda Lee, these combined made it truly formidable. Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze. PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK: 's Youtube Index
