Who did Sammy Davis Jr. imitate on his record 'Because of You'?

Answer 1

Some of the people imitated by Sammy Davis Jr in Because of You were (I think): Peter Lorre James Stewart Jerry Lewis Nat King Cole Paul Robeson Frankie Laine

and many others that I don´t know. Do you know more?

On the first side of the original disc he sings "Because of You" as other contemporary pop singers might have.My guess as to the other singers is as follows: 1. Nat King Cole 2.Billy Eckstein 3.Mel Torme ( in his "Velvet Fog" era) 4.The tenor from The Ink Spots 5.Billy Daniels 6.Vaughan Munro 7. Frankie Laine.All the above takes 2-39 . There is a gap of about 1-2 secs. before the start of the second side of the original disc, where he sings the same song as some famous actors might have. Again, my guess as to the actors is as follows. 1.James Cagney 2.Jimmy Stewart 3.Cary Grant 4.Lionel Barrymore 5.Edward J. Robinson 6.Sammy Davis 7.Jerry Lewis 8.Dean Martin 9.Jerry Lewis

If you go to YouTube there's a video of SDJr. performing the song and identifying each impersonation. The list is (almost) exactly the same as on the recording I have on CD but I transcribed it here: 1. Nat Cole 2. Tony Bennett 3. Vaughan Munro 4. Billy Eckstine 5. James Cagney 6. Jimmy Stewart 7. Cary Grant 8. Jerry Lewis (as of Oct. 5 2008)

12/27/08

With all respect to the person who posted the above, here is a list of the singers and actors that Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonated on his 1954 Decca single, "Because Of You (Parts 1 & 2)":

Side 1 - Singers (in order):

1. Nat "King" Cole

2. Tony Bennett

3. Mel Torme

4. Bill Kenny (from The Ink Spots)

5. Billy Eckstine

6. Vaughn Monroe

7. Frankie Laine

Side 2 - Actors (in order):

1. James Cagney

2. Jimmy Stewart

3. Cary Grant

4. Lionel Barrymore

5. Edward G. Robinson

6. Sammy Davis, Jr. (singing straight)

7. Jerry Lewis

8. Dean Martin

9. Jerry Lewis

The YouTube clip mentioned above was taken from Sammy's performance of the song on "The Colgate Summer Comedy Hour" which originally aired August 8, 1954. In this performance, he impersonates Cole, Bennett, Monroe, Eckstine, Cagney, Stewart, an ersatz Humphrey Bogart, Grant, and Lewis.