Perry Como's Hometown Statue Silenced

Perry Como has laryngitis.
 
Well, not really, because the cardigan-wearing crooner died in May 2001. But Como, or rather, the stone statue of him in his western Pennsylvania hometown of Canonsburg, has been silenced.

The borough has piped in Como's music 12 hours a day since installing a sound system in late 2002 to boost tourist interest in the statue in the center of the borough, about 15 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Canonsburg, which is also hometown to Bobby Vinton, bills itself as "American's Small Town Music Capital."
 
But, for now, Como has been silenced until sometime this spring because of renovations to the borough building.
 
Borough manager Terry Hazlett tells the (Washington) Observer-Reporter, "He's got laryngitis."
 
Hazlett says, "I hope to have Perry singing full-time again by the end of April."