Nick Lucas

Lucas was born into an Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey on August 22, 1897, his parents hailing from Ariano di Puglia, Campania. He had eight siblings, five of whom surpassed their formative years.

His father, Otto, a landscaper and tree surgeon, was illiterate in English, although he was able to speak it; owing to his poor health, the family had relocated to the country—particularly Silver Lake—around 1900. A year subsequent, he tasked his son, Frank, a renowned accordionist, to teach the young Nick, then known as Dominic, a musical instrument. Since he was "too small to comfortably handle a guitar or banjo," the mandolin was deemed to be a suitable alternative for the young boy.^[3]

By 1905, Dominic had developed a routine comprising both his academics and musical pursuits, the latter used as a means of assisting his family with respect to income. Consequently, he was unable to receive adequate sleep and thus was prone to sleeping through his classes.^[3]

In 1913, upon graduating from grammar school, he was presented with a choice from his father concerning whether he would opt for continuing his education or apprenticing; he chose the latter. Given his youth and musical aptitude, his coworkers would find it questionable as to why he was laboring among them.^[3]

Upon the commencement of his relationship with his future wife, Catherine Ciffrodella, he decided that it would be best for him to resign and capitalize upon his talent and passion. He henceforth had begun performing at local cafes, during which he adopted his reputed stage name: Nick Lucas.^[3]

In 1912, at the age of fifteen, Lucas delivered his inaugural record performance, in particular for Thomas Edison's phonograph company. He retrospectively described the inventor as a "very nice man who was genuinely interested in the proper recording of string instruments."^[3]

In 1922, at the age of 25, he gained renown with his hit renditions of "Pickin' the Guitar" and "Teasin' the Frets" for Pathé. In 1923, Gibson Guitars proposed to build him a concert guitar with a deeper body. Known as the "Nick Lucas Special," it became a popular model with guitarists such as Bob Dylan. It was this guitar's outline that was later used as the basis for the Gibson Les Paul solid body electric guitar. Also in 1923, he began recording for Brunswick and remained one of their exclusive artists until 1932.

In 1929, Lucas co-starred in the Warner Bros. two-color Technicolor musical, Gold Diggers of Broadway, in which he introduced the two hit songs "Painting the Clouds with Sunshine" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", which survives in a fully synchronized and preserved Vitaphone disc. The same year, Lucas was featured in the studio's all-star revue, The Show of Shows. Lucas turned down Warner Bros. seven-year contract offer, which went instead to fellow crooner Dick Powell.

In April 1930, Warner bought Brunswick and gave him his own orchestra, billed on his records as "The Crooning Troubadours". This arrangement lasted until December 1931, when Warner licensed Brunswick to the American Record Corporation (ARC). The new owners were not as extravagant as Warner Bros. had previously been and Lucas lost his orchestra and eventually left Brunswick in 1932. He made two recordings for Durium in 1932 for their Hit of the Week series. These would prove to be his last major recordings.

Lucas spent the rest of his career performing on radio, in night clubs and dance halls. He made a number of recordings for small or independent labels, including Cavalier, where he was billed as the "Cavalier Troubadour." In 1944, he reprised some of his old hits in soundies movie musicals and filmed another group of songs for Snader Telescriptions in 1951, including his hit of "Walkin' My Baby Back Home".

He signed with Accent in 1955 and remained with the label for 25 years.^[4] Lucas once made an extended eight-month tour of Australia when he was on the road. In the mid-1970s he came to the attention of a new generation, being heard on the soundtracks of a handful of period films, after he was chosen to record the vocal refrains for The Great Gatsby. As of 2025, Nick Lucas has had one of the longest singing careers, spanning 64 years.

Nick Lucas enjoyed a long marriage of 53 years to Catherine Ciffrodella, whom he married on August 22, 1917. They had one daughter, Emily Lucas Bissell (1918–2013) and three grandchildren.^[5]

Lucas became friends with Tiny Tim, who considered him an inspiration and who borrowed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as his own theme song. Most people believe that Tiny Tim was the original singer of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips". Lucas sang the song to him when he married Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on December 17, 1969. Nick Lucas was interviewed all throughout the 1970's and the early 1980's.

In 1974, his renditions of the songs, "I'm Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston", "When You and I Were Seventeen" and "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" were featured on the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby (1974), selected by the film's musical director Nelson Riddle.

In 1975,^[6] Nick Lucas performed a sold-out show at Mayfair Music Hall in Santa Monica, California. In 1977, he celebrated his 80th birthday.^[7] This footage is available on YouTube. In 1980,^[8] Lucas rode in the Rose Bowl Parade on his float 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips'. In 1981,^[9] Lucas collaborated with Riddle one last time to sing 4 minutes of his best-selling hits. This was one of his last public appearances.

On July 28, 1982, less than a month before his 85th birthday, Nick Lucas died in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from complications of double pneumonia.^[10] He was interred with his wife Catherine in the "Shrine of Remembrance" in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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