DAVID WHITFIELD – "Cara Mia"

This is where I came in.

I feel sorry for people who go through life just trying to find something to criticize. No matter what you say about David Whitfield he had a magnificent voice which got him to the top 10 in the US charts with ‘Cara Mia’. He also stayed at number 1 in the UK charts for 10 consecutive weeks with this platter. Mantovani who wrote this song especially for David knew what he was doing. David never tried to imitate anyone and was always himself, a real nice guy. But the fact that this recording sold 3.5 million copies speaks for itself. David became the first UK male singer to receive a gold disc with Vera Lynn being the first UK vocalist to receive this honour. Long may David’s music continue.

I don’t think anyone here is looking for something to criticise. David Whitfield’s voice sounds embarrassingly amateurish these days, no matter how many records he sold. The British public has had plenty of high profile operatics, whether classical or pop, to weigh up since 1953 and I think there’s a good reason why you don’t hear Cara Mia as often as Nessun Dorma these days – same reason people don’t boil their pasta for 20 minutes anymore.

It is definitely unfair to try and compare a 1953 recording of cara mia with a much later recording of nessun dorma, of course the later recording will sound better the equipment has come on a bit in the last fifty years!
David was a very talented singer in his day and didnt benefit from the electronic enhancements available today that can make any artist sound far better than they really are.

The sound of (early ’50s) young Hull…or David Whitfield 4 the Housemartins 0
I agree with No7 the primitive production doesn’t do David Whitfield’s voice any favours when in reality he was universally known as a very accomplished light operatic singer. This even hit the Top Ten in the USA when Vera Lynn excepted Britons didn’t get a sniff of the upper regions of the American charts.

Having criticised certain sonic limitations of the production I’d also paradoxically praise it for the ghostly angelic choir which I should imagine was always haunting but which now coming down across the years from a vanished England still mired in the sepia tones of austerity (and which in some ways seems as distant as Dickens’ London) makes for a very atmospheric verging on surreal listening experience.

I’m sure there’s plenty of interesting things you could do with some dubstep beats and a deftly used sample of this…

TO: Wichita Lineman…too bad that there is a sense of envy in your critique of David Whitfield’s, ‘Cara Mia’ classic.
After all, David has performed before KINGS & the world knows & has heard David Whitfield…but, who in the hell is ‘Wichita Lineman’?
David Whitfield’s classic ‘Cara Mia’ still brings the listener to a standstill! Keep that phrase in mind…”to a standstill”!

Moggyman@7

I don’t have a 1953 recording of Nessun dorma but I do have a 1953 recording of E lucevan le stelle and I’ll take Giuseppe di Stefano every time.

It amazes me how he doubled up his operatic career with being a star fro Real Madrid…

Cara mia was top of the charts for 10 weeks!!! David was the first to get a gold disc in the States for Cara Mia and if you don’t like it don’t listen to it, but I still think it’s wonderful, as are all his other songs. Can’t suit all of the people all of the time!!!

Indeed, but then again in a thousand years even the Beatles will be forgotten. I do think those four artists you named will still be remembered in sixty(Amy Winehouse is dependant on actually making more records of course), but unfortunately had it not been for the fact that David Whitfield (no relation?) has the number 20 slot in the “artists that got to number one”, he’d be forgotten already.

Not wanting to kick an easy target, but David Whitfield was largely forgotten by the time I started buying records from the 50s, and that was less than 30 years after Cara Mia.

An indicator of how well loved/remembered/respected pop stars are is the cold financial world of ebay. I love Lou Christie and the Small Faces, but it’s pretty obvious the world doesn’t love Lou Christie as much as I do, and many love the Small Faces much more than I do.

I have grown to like the backing on Cara Mia, but really that’s Mantovani’s doing. For me David Whitfield sounds like he’s trying REALLY HARD, which is something in pop I find hugely off-putting.

David Whitfield seems to have more fans today than Dickie Valentine.

Paint America Love – the missing link between Sesame Street and What’s Going On.

DW paid his taxes innit.

Virtually all of Locke’s big songs were “hits” before the chart was invented. Anyway he turned up on TOTP in 1992 so probably had the last laugh.

David Whitfield is still remembered today by many fans worldwide. I know this because I run the David Whitfield Commemorative Society and have done so for over twenty years. To say that David sounds embarrassingly amateurish #5 is ridiculous, because David had singing lessons from a professor of music. His diction was second to none.Just to let everyone know that David is NOT forgotten and will never be for a long time to come. We sell a lot of material on David and the requests for more is unending. Long may it continue.

Your comment on #19 does not make sense. If David would be forgotten already, how is it that you sell lots of material on David. It just goes to show that he is still remembered.I have been a fan for 57 years.

Looks like I’ve stumbled upon the civilised, tea-and-cucumber-sandwiches source of the rabid fan river, with the Floyd Army at it’s oh-so-wide estuary.

Damning indictment of “material on David” – he was taken out of the Record Collector Price Guide a couple of years ago. Completely omitted. This is daft – find me a 45 of Santo Natale! But most Pre Rock (!945-55) is only of interest to people who remember it and nutty collectors like me.

Exception that proves the rule – a copy of Lita Roza’s Doggie In The Window 45 sold a couple of weeks back for £350. Given the chance, I’d have considered it. But there’s about 3 people in the world who would’ve done.

Oh, I still need a 45 of Endless by Dickie Valentine if anyone out there has “material on Dickie”.

Blimey: I wonder what my 45 of “Singing the Blues” Guy Mitchell would go for..

No, it’s definitely a single, with “Crazy in love” on the b-side.

It could be a 1957, I guess.

Coo, might be worth a bob or two. Will have to dig it out.

This is still well outside my knowledge area (just about the only band I know in any kind of depth from that period are The Drifters), so best I can muster is “inoffensive, pleasant enough”. It is interesting to see which entries suddenly get way more comments so far. Not sure if there is a clear pattern yet (e.g., say something slightly mean, so that fans googling the name will appear to defend it), but I’m curious to see if that’s borne out the further I get into the blog (loooong way to go). 🙂

The cold shower we all needed after Johnnie Ray’s platter of filth… 1/10