Born: 18 May 1912
Died: 12 May 2001 (aged 88)
Real name: Pierino Ronald Como
Como was born in a place called Canonsburg in Pennsylvania, which is just outside Pittsburgh. He was 1 of 10 children in the family and the first to be born in America after his parents immigrated from Italy. As a toddler, Perry would play the second-hand organ his father had bought and then would go on to learn guitar and trombone amongst other instruments. As his family were poor, Perry got a job when he was 10, helping in the local barber shop and by the time he was 13 he had his own chair at the shop where he would stand on a box to cut customer’s hair. His ambition then was to become the best barber in Canonsburg. When he was 20 he moved to Meadville which was about 100 miles away where his uncle owned a barber shop. One evening he went to watch Freddy Carlone & His Orchestra play at a local Ballroom. Carlone invited anyone who thought they could sing up onto the stage. Despite his shyness, Como was persuaded to go up and so impressed Carlone that he offered the young lad a job. A few years later, and with Carlone’s blessing, Como joined Ted Weems’ Orchestra and in 1936 he made his first recording with the band, a song called ‘You Can’t Pull The Wool Over My Eyes’. In 1942, tired of touring with Ted Weems, Como quit the band and returned to Canonsburg to be with his family. He received numerous offers to return to the music business and eventually, under the guidance of Tommy Rockwell, Ted Weems manager, went back to the music business. He began a solo recording career and cut his first record in 1943 and would, over the rest of the decade, become a household name in the US. However, it wasn’t until 1955, when Billboard started publishing a Top 100 hits that he saw chart action. He would see a total of 48 Hot 100 hits with 1957’s ‘Round And Round’ giving him his only chart topper. He would have the 5th highest hits count in the US for the 1950’s.
| Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| 22-Oct-1965 | Stand Beside Me | 2 | 16 |
| 22-Jun-1973 | And I Love You So | 2 | 16 |
| 08-Mar-1974 | Walk Right Back | 19 | 2 |
| Total hits | 3 | ||
| Total weeks | 34 |
| Biggest climber awards | 4 |
| Star rater climbs | 5 |
| Biggest fallers | 1 |
| Weeks with oldest in the charts | 0 |
| Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 16 |
| Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
| Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 383 |
| Top 30 points ranking | 198 |
| Top 20 points ranking | 183 |
| Top 30 points | 723 |
| Top 20 points | 383 |
SA Singles Charts 