Musician. "Buddy" Moreno was an American musician who began his musical apprenticeship in 1933 as a very young singer and guitar player with the Griff Williams band, based in San Francisco. In the early 1940s, he joined the Dick Jurgens Orchestra where he was the featured vocalist and recorded on many of their releases, including "One Dozen Roses," the number-one hit in the nation in 1942. The following year, Moreno joined Harry James' band, replacing Dick Haymes, who replaced Frank Sinatra. He recorded widely with James and was featured in the band's radio shows and in Metro-Goldwin-Mayer films, including two musical comedies with the band: "Bathing Beauty," starring Esther Williams and Red Skelton, and "Two Girls and a Sailor," with June Allyson and Van Johnson. He was drafted into the Army in World War II, short-circuiting his acting career. Upon his discharge in 1947, he launched his own 12-piece orchestra, sharing lead vocals with Perri Mitchell, who would later become his wife. Buddy Moreno and His Orchestra toured throughout the United States and parts of Canada and played all the famous ballrooms, including the legendary Paramount Theater in New York, where they did six shows a day. His orchestra recorded several albums with RCA Victor, including "Carolyn," "Doo Dee Doo On An Old Kazoo," and "Gee, I Wish You Were My Sweetheart," and often appeared on CBS, NBC, and Mutual network radio. In the 50s, he took a job as director of the house band for the old Chase Club in St. Louis, playing with the likes of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Sophie Tucker. Later, he had his own television musical variety program, "The Buddy Moreno Show," on KMOX-TV in St. Louis, and would go on to become a radio announcer and radio host, featuring big-band music. In 1996, he came out of retirement to host a weekly big band program on local radio. Moreno died at age 103 of natural causes.