What a glorious book! A beautiful love affair, Ms. De la Vega has written a poignant and sensitive portrayal of her love affair. Breathtaking in scope, she leaves no twists and turns, she and Richard were one! The connection in her life that made the whole universe turn on. No matter where, when, how and who, these two bonded together as one. He speaks through her! She loves through him! What a metaphor! Every page is a lesson for all. Young lovers to study. They may learn how to live a lifetime of happiness in a moment of caring, that's what it's all about! Soulmates, now and forever.
Alan Bernstein - Lyricist;
"I'm Still in Love With You"
"Pretend"
"Cherry pink-Apple Blossom White"
"Hurt"
"If I Give My Heart to You"
"I tried manfully to put down Dianne de la Vega's wonderful book, "Heaven Knows", but failed miserably!"
Barnaby Conrad - author of over 30 books including "Matador" and most recently "Last Boat to Cadiz".
"A dazzling entertainment! Fascinating. Award winning author Dianne de la Vega's love story, "Heaven Knows," is a glamorous look into the celebrity lifestyle and loves of 1950's crooner Dick Haymes. Even more is the heartwarming, enduring love story between the singer/actor (State Fair) and Ms. de la Vega.
No one can read just one page of this deftly told book without turning the page to read on...and on..."
Cork Millner - author, "Hollywood Be Thy Name - The Warner Brothers Story"
"The story iteself is fascinating as well as being a heartfelt telling. It flows from the heart, not organized from the mind. The constant moving from laughs, to pain, to warmth, to questions, to answers, often falling on top of each other, kept me enoyably off-balance...never a dull moment."
Tee Bosustow - filmaker, Producer/Director of upcoming feature documetary "UPA: Mavericks, Magic & Magoo"
"It reads like a successful dinner party with animated conversations, like a steadily flowing stream through an enchanted countryside. It is not only romantic, but dares to give intimacies, based on her true love for a famous ballad singer."
Franz Boerlage - Opera Director and author of "Portrait Incomplete" Musical Memoirs.
A TRIBUTE TO DICK HAYMES
I never had the chance to meet Dick Haymes until I was asked to be his accompanist on a rainy August weekend evening at one of those Miami “hotel clubs” on the strand in North Miami Beach. I forgot the club but not the singer.
As a song writer, I loved the really fine voices and in my great reverence to this “Singer”. No, not just a “Singer”, I was in awe of the favorite crooner of the “40’s” and movie star of that era. Here in a hotel lobby with just a piano in a bar sitting with his arms wrapped around a chair. He was singing to a crowd of people who came in just for curiosity but then there was magic. I melted at the dulcet tones that reverberated form his throat. Here was my favorite singer in “1974” singing as brilliantly as if it was “1944”. I couldn’t imagine a better version of “The More I See You”, “You’ll Never Know” and when he hit the top “E flat” in the song “I Wish I Didn’t Love You So” my God, It’s not just the songs that were great to begin with but when the pioneer who made them the treasures of his musical life was singing those same melodies that sold millions…to me, us, the customers in that lobby bar, I could see trickles of tears in some of their eyes, that giant of a man who 20 years before was a reigning king, one of the most talked about artists in the world was singing on a regular folding chair in a hotel lobby but it didn’t matter. IT WAS DICK HAYMES!
Where was he those twenty lost years? It didn’t matter; we knew the stories about him. It was an “unforgettable” experience. That wonderful night, thank God I had a chance to meet and play for one of the great Giants of all time.
My God a man with a golden voice like his, we love you Richard, I am only a piano player you are the “eternal truth” musically.
There’s nothing for us but the love in our hearts and the love in our hearts, “That’s For You”.
Richard, “That’s For You”
Alan Bernstein - Lyricist.
(see top of page for song credits)
