Dorel Livianu

Romanian chanson singer born October 10, 1907, in Bucharest, Romania - passed away April 2, 1997 in US. He showed his high quality voice at a young age when he performed at age 7 in Verdi’s opera AIDA, as the little trumpet boy. As a teenager he studied voice with the great Massini at the Bucharest Music Conservatory. As a rising star he was signed on by Columbia Records and His Master’s Voice. He launched some of the greatest hits of the 1930s and 40s, such as “How Beautiful Life Is”, “In The Little Town Forgotten By The World”, “Johnny, Johnny”, and many others. He performed with the Jewish Theater Barasheum in Bucharest between 1939 and 1945, when Jewish entertainers were banned from regular theaters. He was deported and interned in a Romanian-Nazy labor-concentration camp in Transnistria for 8 months, which he survided due to his notoriety. Livianu also recorded many Jewish and American popular songs while residing in Israel and the United States. He was a frequent guest singer on popular New York radio shows like The Joey Adams Show, The Forward Hour on WEVD, and many others. He is considered to have had one of the most beautiful pop voices of Romania. Dorel Livianu was married in 1939 to Mella Silberstein and had one child in 1955, David Bogdan Livianu. In 1967 he took residence in America, commuting for performances between Romania and the U.S. He passed away on April 2, 1997. He is survived by a son and 2 grandchildren.