[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 29 (Monday, March 10, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page S2093]]



                    SAMUEL IRWIN ``SONNY'' GOLDBERG

Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to my 
fellow Charlestonian and good friend, Samuel Irwin ``Sonny'' Goldberg. 
Sonny was one of a kind, a true gentleman who was loved by all. As many 
others have said, if there was ever an ambassador for Charleston's King 
Street, it was Sonny. An esteemed businessman, he had friends in 
stations both high and low all over town. The origin of his name lay in 
his father's penchant for singing Al Jolson's ``Sonny Boy.'' Sonny 
inherited his father's gift of song and everyone in the lowcountry is 
richer for it. Sonny sang all the old greats: ``Marialana.'' 
``Embraceable You,'' ``Honeysuckle Rose,'' ``I've Got You Under My 
Skin'' and a number of others. He was the King Street Singer.
  Sonny's singing did not outshine his talent for business and 
friendship. To know him was to love him. As his good friend, Douglas 
Donehue, said in his eulogy, ``Sonny had within him a spark of genius 
that won the hearts of people from all walks of life.'' He loved to 
read; he was a student of the world and an avid observer of mankind. 
Sonny was a man of his word, a man of his faith, strictly observing the 
Sabbath every Saturday, and a man of family. His wife Shirley, and his 
children will greatly miss him.
  Sonny Goldberg gave much to the Charleston community and was 
especially integral in the revitalization of King Street, Charleston's 
main shopping district. We will greatly miss him and his gentle 
reminder to, ``Drive carefully. We want you to get here.'' I 
respectfully request that the following editorial be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:

           [From the Charleston Post & Courier, Mar. 3, 1997]

                        S.I. ``Sonny'' Goldberg

     They call me the King Street Singer 'cause I sing whenever 
           I'm blue.
     And if you should be feeling lonely I recommend it to you.
     You may not be Mario Lanza or Fisher or Como or Bing.
     But you'll feel so great in the morning
     If you open your mouth and sing.

       If there had ever been an election for mayor of King 
     Street, Samuel Irwin Goldberg would have surely won. Instead 
     Mr. Goldberg became the ``King Street Singer,'' one of the 
     city's most recognized personalities.
       Born in Charleston in 1922, Mr. Goldberg began working in 
     his father's King Street furniture business early in life. In 
     the 1950s it was his decision to supplement the company's 
     newspaper advertising with radio and TV spots--a practice he 
     kept up after opening his own store in 1981.
       In them, Mr. Goldberg--often with a ukulele in hand --would 
     sing a few bars of Jack Gale's ``Serenade of the King Street 
     Singer'' before stopping to insert a couple of lines about 
     the great values at Goldberg's.
       It was because of these ads--both print and broadcast--that 
     Mr. Goldberg seemed to be known wherever he went. He usually 
     would seem surprised and ask, ``How do you know me?'' when 
     people would inevitably stop him on the street or in 
     restaurants and, more often to recite the later rap version 
     that aired: ``Go Sonny Go, Go Sonny Goldberg, Go Sonny Go, Go 
     Sonny Goldberg. . . .''
       Although widely regarded for his humor, the private Mr. 
     Goldberg was much more than ``the singer.''
       A deeply religious man, he was an Orthodox Jew who 
     considered his faith among the most important aspects of his 
     life. Even when South Carolina's Blue Laws prohibited many 
     retail stores from doing business on Sunday, Mr. Goldberg 
     opened his. He closed on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. The 
     law was amended to legalize that practice with what was 
     called the Sabbatarian exemption. It since has been 
     extensively revised.
       Regarding the Sabbath, he said in a 1994 newspaper article, 
     ``I look forward to it every week. We're supposed to restrict 
     ourselves from all that God did . . . from anything that 
     creates a fire, energy, anything like that. We don't cook on 
     Saturdays. I don't ride in the car on Saturdays. I go to the 
     Synagogue Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday 
     evening. I think it's a relief that you can't put a value 
     on.''
       Mr. Goldberg had that inherent knack for making those 
     around him feel good, and people from all walks of life 
     counted themselves among his many patrons and friends. In 
     1995, Sonny Goldberg closed the store that for so long was a 
     King Street institution. When he died Thursday at 74, 
     Charleston lost one of its favorite and most colorful 
     citizens.

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