Bonaldo Bonaldi (Burt Holiday)

Bonaldo Bonaldi, or Burt Holiday, (July 6, 1926—May 10, 2017) was an American singer. He was a founding member of the vocal group The Gaylords with Ronnie Gaylord (June 12, 1930 – January 25, 2004) and Don Rea (December 9, 1928—June 30, 2017).

Bonaldo Bonaldi was born Bonaldo Americo Bonaldi in Detroit, Michigan, on July 6, 1926, to Italian immigrants, Louis and Geltrude Bonaldi. His parents owned an Italian book and music store in Detroit. Growing up, he listened to a lot of music through his father's extensive record collection.

Bonaldi attended St. Joseph's Collegiate High School in Detroit, where he was active in sports. He also went to an acting school.

During the Second World War, Bonaldi, aged 19, served as a Supply sergeant in the United States Army stationed in Puerto Rico.

After the war, he attended the University of Detroit Mercy, where, for a brief period, played on the university's football team. His classmates were Ronnie Gaylord and Don Rea—his future Gaylords bandmates.

In the late 1940s/early 1950s, Bonaldi and Ronnie played music as a duo, performing mostly pantomimes and then adding songs. Later, they added Don Rea a pianist/keyboardist and arranger, and officially launched their band The Gaylords (originally The Gay Lords).

Gaylords' signature style was a hybrid of Italian and English language lyrics.

The trio met with immediate success right after their initial releases on Mercury Records. They shot to fame with their 1952 release of "Tell Me You're Mine", written by Ronnie and Italian composer Nino Ravasini. Derived from an Italian ballad, the song was originally recorded as a disc to be sold at Bonaldi's father's store. It reached number 2 on the U.S. pop chart and number 3 on Cashbox in 1953 and sold over one million copies by 1958. The song was covered by Russ Morgan and His Orchestra (1953), Vic Damone (on the album Angela Mia, 1958), Lou Monte (on the album Italian Houseparty, 1959), and Jerry Vale (on the album I Have But One Heart, 1962).

Establishing themselves as a name to reckon with in the pop music scene, The Gaylords began making frequent club appearances and performing throughout the country. Over the years, they performed in many famed venues and casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, and Reno, including Harrah's, Caesar's Palace, The Dunes, Nugget Casino Resort, Sahara, Sands, Desert Inn, The Riviera, Tropicana, the Riverside, and Mapes. They also did shows with Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Fats Domino, Dinah Shore, Arthur Godfrey, Maurice Chevalier, Danny Thomas, Duke Ellington, Bill Cosby, and at Frank Sinatra's Palm Springs home for Sinatra's birthday.

In 1953, the trio released "Ramona" and "Spinning A Web" on Mercury (#70112). Both tracks reached the top fifteen sellers, with "Ramona" remaining on the pop charts for more than two months. In December 1953, they had moderate success with "The Strings of My Heart".

In 1954, they released a few tracks, including "The Little Shoemaker", "Mecque, Mecque", "A Kiss To Call My Own", and "Vieni-Vidi-Vici".

Also in 1954, they released "Stolen Moments", which failed as a seller, but it was a song featured on the Steve Allen television show Songs For Sale. On the A-side of this disc was the songwriter Leonard Whitcup's "From The Vine Came The Grape", recorded with music by George Annis And His Orchestra. It reached the top ten and stayed a hit for over three months.

"Isle of Capri" (1954) was on the charts for three months and was a top fifteen seller. "The Little Shoemaker", also from 1954, was a huge hit nationally and reached the number 2 spot.

In the mid-1950s, Ronnie Gaylord joined the U. S. Army and was replaced by Bill Christ. Bonaldi, Don, and Bill continued recording as The Gaylords for Mercury Records until 1964.

After their recording contract with Mercury ended, Don and Bill left the group and Bonaldi changed his name to Burt Holiday in 1963 and teamed up with Ronnie Gaylord to form a duo "Gaylord and Holiday".

The duo continued to perform with Don Rea as their pianist and also toured the United States and the United Kingdom.

They also got to perform on such television variety shows as The Tonight Show, American Bandstand, The Flip Wilson Show, The Andy Williams Show, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin's Laugh-In, and The Glen Campbell Show.

"Gaylord and Holiday" made a few releases in the 1960s through the 1970s but failed to reach the success they had with The Gaylords. In 1963, "Gaylord and Holiday" with Don Rea recorded Live At Lake Tahoe accompanied by bassist Aka Jones, drummer Harvey Lang, and guitarist Jerry McGee. In 1966, they released on Verve Records "What's My Name?" and "Sweets For My Sweet" (written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman). The duo had a minor hit in 1976 with "Eh! Cumpari" on Prodigal Records.

By the 1970s, all four musicians had moved to Nevada where they were fixtures of the Las Vegas entertainment scene. They performed occasionally until 2003 when Ronnie's struggle with cancer made it difficult for him to continue his music career.

Bonaldi married Maria Antoinette Urli (1928–2010) in 1959. They had five children—Lydia, Pamela, Louis, Maria, and Paul

Bonaldi died in Carson City, Nevada, on May 10, 2017, at age 90.