Joe Valino

Joseph Paolino, Jr. (March 9, 1929 – December 26, 1996), who performed as Joe Valino, was an American singer who had a chart hit in 1957 with "The Garden of Eden". Born in Philadelphia, the son of Mary and Joseph Paolino, he learned piano and guitar and began performing in local clubs as a child. While still in his teens, he accompanied Sarah Vaughan in piano, and by the age of 18 had performed as a singer and pianist with the big bands of Woody Herman and Tommy Dorsey. After a spell as a professional boxer, he returned to the music business in the early 1950s, and local composer Dolores "Vicki" Silvers wrote the song "Learnin' the Blues" for him to record. He released the song in 1954 on the local Gold Star label (not the Texas label of the same name), and it became locally successful. Valino's version was then heard by Frank Sinatra, who recorded it himself and had a #1 hit with the song