1949 HITS ARCHIVE: Ave Maria - Perry Como (his original version)

Ave Maria (Schubert) by Perry Como, with organ and choir directed by Mitchell Ayres and Ray Charles, produced by Charles Grean, recorded at The Church of Incarnation, New York City, September 30, 1949 With Perry’s 1959 and 1968 stereo remakes generally chosen for inclusion in the various Como CD compilations, both this classic pre-high fidelity track and the flipside “The Lord’s Prayer” have not been commonly heard over the decades. Due to its length, “Ave Maria” was originally issued by RCA Victor on one of its 12-inch 78rpm discs instead of the usual 10. After it reached #22 on Billboard’s singles sales chart at Christmastime 1949, the Schubert melody continued to be a highlight of Perry’s Christmas shows on TV for many years thereafter. THE 1949 HITS ARCHIVE - here in one place, a good-quality library of original-release-version best-sellers and songs that made an impact that were either released or enjoyed a major chunk of their popularity within the calendar year 1949 (some were recorded in 1948). . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The three* MusicProf channels are home to The HITS ARCHIVES, YouTube’s most comprehensive collection of U.S. ‘popular music’ recordings from 1925 thru 1975. Discover thousands of original hit versions, conveniently arranged in year-by-year playlists and sorted alphabetically in your choice of either song title or artist name. Simply visit this channel’s home page (here:    / @the78prof72   ), scroll down the rows of playlist categories, choose a favorite year, click on “view full playlist,” and then pick out the songs that you want to hear. Enjoy the music! The78Prof The45Prof AnotherProf