He was born to a working-class Jewish family on September 5, 1917, in the Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg, Pennsylvania and grew up in nearby McKeesport. His father was a factory worker who had immigrated from Galicia, and his mother was a housewife born in Pittsburgh. As a boy, he listened to music sung at a local black Baptist church.
He was raised in the working-class Jewish community of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, by parents who were both immigrants. He grew up listening to gospel music performed at a local black Baptist church.