For a brief time, Eddie Fisher was the most popular male vocalist in America, but for a longer period, the affable crooner was the center of a highly-publicized series of romantic entanglements, involving some of the most famous celebrities of his generation.

Eddie Fisher

One of seven children of a Jewish grocer in South Philadelphia, Edward Fisher had a Depression-era childhood of poverty and frequent moves. He sought a singing career from an early age, and became a regular performer on Philadelphia radio by the age of fifteen. Two years later, the seventeen-year-old Fisher obtained a tryout with the Buddy Morrow band in New York, but he was only employed for a few weeks. Calling himself Sonny Edwards, Fisher haunted the city's nightclubs for months, searching for work. In an audition at the Copacabana, Fisher impressed the owner with his voice, but his immature...