Dick Merrick

Vocalist Dick Merrick got his first break in front of the mic at age 16 when the band he played in needed a singer. In 1942, Merrick worked with Jerry Wald’s or­ches­tra but left be­fore year’s end to sing for the McFarland Twins. He re­joined Wald in May 1943 and stayed for three years, record­ing sev­eral songs with the group, in­clud­ing “Laura” in 1945, his most no­table tune.

In early 1946, ru­mors ro­man­ti­cally linked Merrick, once de­scribed in a re­view as “balding” and “muscular,” with fel­low Wald vo­cal­ist Kay Allen. The pair mar­ried late that year. Both had left Wald by that time. Allen, who later changed her work­ing name to “Cathy” Allen, had joined Randy Brooks, while Merrick had left Wald for Bobby Byrne in April 1946 and then joined George Paxton by year’s end. He re­mained with Paxton un­til 1949, when the leader scrapped his band.

Merrick and Allen set­tled in Philadelphia af­ter their son was born in late 1948, where they ap­peared on lo­cal tele­vi­sion pro­grams. In early 1950, the cou­ple recorded to­gether on the Admiral la­bel. In August of that year, Merrick signed with Capitol Records as a solo artist, and in 1954 he sang for the BBS la­bel. He recorded more than 50 songs in his ca­reer but never quite man­aged a big hit, a fact he lamented in a 1981 in­ter­view. “I al­ways wanted a hit record. I came close but never could get it,” he said. “Just that one.”

Merrick con­tin­ued singing through­out the 1950s, end­ing up on the night­club cir­cuit. He quit show busi­ness in 1962 and moved to Florida, where his fa­ther lived, tak­ing a po­si­tion as Director of Activities at the Carillon Hotel in Miami Beach, which in­volved singing and host­ing in the hotel’s Tambourine Room. In 1969, he be­came so­cial di­rec­tor at the Versailles Hotel, re­main­ing there into the 1980s.