Watch Kuldip Singh, the crooner from Kashmir who almost made it as a star in 1950s Hollywood
But American immigration laws and some racial stereotyping ended his career there.
Kuldip Rae Singh could have been a phenomenal success in Hollywood had the United States immigration department not deported him in 1956. Described as the “East Indian warbler” or the “crooner from Kashmir”, the 21-year-old won a massive fan following for his smooth ballads and his dashing looks after an appearance on Groucho Marx’s quiz show You Bet Your Life.
Singh, the son of an international lawyer, was a medical student in UCLA at the time and landed a spot on the show because of his intriguing accent. But he was bombarded with a series of racist, condescending remarks from Groucho Marx, who asked him if he came to America “on a camel”.
Singh quipped back, “I did halfway, yes, but the other way I had to take a boat. You know they don’t swim.” He called his birthplace the “beautiful, romantic valley of Kashmir”. It was when Marx questioned him about his talents that Singh expressed his passion for singing and launched into a stunning Elvis Presley-like rendition of A Woman in Love, becoming an overnight sensation.
You can watch his performance, and the entire episode, below:
Suddenly, he was all over the newspapers and receiving offers from recording houses and film studios. He was flooded by fan letters – over 8,000 at one point, including a few marriage proposals – and heralded by multiple fan clubs across the country. Everyone wanted him, especially after he released a series of records as “Cool Dip Singh”. Everyone, that is, except the US Immigration and Naturalisation Services.
The hype around Singh led to an investigation into his student visa, and he was informed of his imminent deportation weeks after his performance on Marx’s show, when they realised he had dropped out of medical school. He temporarily left for Mexico, and returned on a tourist visa, but his tour and a few appearances on television shows soon gave way to stereotypical “oriental” roles such as the “son of Aladdin”. A few years later, in the 1960s, Singh reappeared in Spain, this time as plain Kuldip, his “exoticness” blatantly stated by a turban he often wore.