'Godfather' singer Al Martino dies in Pa. at 82

[samanthajane13]

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. – Singer Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather" and recorded hits including "Spanish Eyes" and the Italian ballad "Volare" in a 50-year musical career, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Martino died at his childhood home in the Philadelphia suburb of Springfield, in Delaware County, according to publicist Sandy Friedman, of the Rogers & Cowan public relations firm. Friedman didn't cite a cause of death.

Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including "Here in My Heart" and "Can't Help Falling in Love."

Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic "The Godfather," Martino sang the 1972 film's title score, "The Love Theme From The Godfather." His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor and is the godson of Brando's Mafia boss character, Don Vito Corleone.

The Italian-American crooner, born Alfred Cini, was one of a number of South Philadelphia-born singers, including Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Chubby Checker. He also was a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Calif.

Philadelphia radio and television personality Jerry Blavat dined with Martino and his wife on Monday night. Blavat told the Philadelphia Daily News that Martino appeared to be in fine shape and that he was shocked when he learned of the singer's death.

"He was the last of the show business legends," said Blavat, who has played Martino's songs on the radio for years. "There's nobody else. The last of the performers. A magnificent voice."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_en_mu/us_obit_al_martino


:rose:RIP, Al!:rose:
Another voice added to the Celestial Choir...:(
We'll miss you!!!

[samanthajane13]

Some of Al's great music...

Spanish Eyes-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2880uUIX8Ks

Nessun Dorma-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFhluBrwAqg&feature=related

Red Roses For A Blue Lady-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqQ2J_UXspo

Look Around And You'll Find Me There-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49seCc95FY8

Volare-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS87g9b8jTA

Strangers in the Night-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjA82qZLtGw

And perhaps his best known song-Love Theme From Godfather-Speak Softly Love-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leYqBL5rIbY

This was the music my ex-husband and I danced to at our wedding...:(


BTW, Al...

Did I mention that you'll be missed?

Well, you will...:rose:

[samanthajane13]

S. Philly-born singing star Al Martino, 82

By JOHN F. MORRISON
Philadelphia Daily News

morrisj@phillynews.com 215-854-5573

AL MARTINO, a South Philly kid with a big voice whose ballads reached high on the charts from the 1950s on, died yesterday of a heart attack in his Springfield, Delaware County, home. He had celebrated his 82nd birthday last Wednesday.

His death was sudden and unexpected since he had not been ill and was still performing. In recent years, he was most popular in Europe, especially Germany.

Martino startled the music world in the early '50s with the robust single "Here In My Heart." It sold more than a million copies. Over the years, he sang such hits as "Spanish Eyes," "Volare," "Take My Heart," "Cara Mia" and others.

He was born Alfred Cini in South Philadelphia, where a boyhood friend was opera star Mario Lanza. In fact, it was Lanza, who died in 1959, who inspired Martino to take up singing as a career.

Lanza had planned to record "Here In My Heart" himself, but was talked out of it by Martino, who thought it would overshadow his own version.

Martino was also an accomplished actor. He played the role of Johnny Fontaine in the "Godfather" movies. The character is supposed to have been based on Frank Sinatra, who had an alleged relationship with organized-crime figures. Martino also sang "I Have But One Heart (O Marenariello)" in "The Godfather."

He also played aging crooner Sal Stevens in the film "Cutout," in 2006.

Martino's son, Al Cini, said, "I have so many wonderful memories of my father I don't even know where to start." He praised his father's "warmth and great sense of humor."

"He was the last of the show-business legends," said entertainer Jerry Blavat, a longtime friend. "There's nobody else." Jerry frequently played Martino's songs on his oldies shows.

Growing up, Martino worked as a bricklayer in his family's construction business. He was a combat Marine in World War II, wounded in the Iwo Jima campaign. After the war, Al Cini changed his name to Martino following in the footsteps of his pal, Alfred Cocozza, who changed his name to Mario Lanza and became a legend.

Martino often said that he was inspired by Al Jolson and Perry Como to take up singing. He appeared in local night spots, including the iconic Palumbo's, before winning first place in Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" TV program in 1948. He sang a rendition of Como's "If." That success earned him a contract with the Philadelphia-based BBS label.

The success of "Here In My Heart" got him a contract with Capitol Records.

Ironically, for a man destined to perform in a Mafia-related movie, Martino ran into problems when his contract was taken over by a Mafia-connected management team.

He was ordered to pay $75,000 as a safeguard against their investment. He made a down payment, but then fled to the United Kingdom. He performed there in such venues as the London Palladium.

It wasn't until 1958 that he felt safe enough to return to the U.S.

He had some difficulty reestablishing himself in the fickle music business. He recorded for 20th Century Fox for a time, but the label dropped him.

The popularity of a new album, "The Exciting Voice of Al Martino" (1962), got him a new deal with Capitol. He followed that with a mostly Italian-language album, "The Italian Voice of Al Martino." He also made some appearances on television.

In 1963, his comeback hit, "I Love You Because," went to No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1965, he gained further popularity with "Spanish Eyes," which achieved several gold and platinum disks for sales. His 1976 hit, "Volare," also called "Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu," enjoyed mega-sales here and abroad. In 2000, he recorded an album, "Style."

Besides his son, he is survived by his wife, Judy, and two daughters, Alison Martino and Alana Cini.

Services: Were being arranged.

Staff writer Dan Gross contributed to this report.


http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20091014_S__Philly-born_singing_star_Al_Martino__82.html

[samanthajane13]

Al Martino: obituary
Singer and actor Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in The Godfather has died at his home in Philadelphia aged 82.

Martino was born Alfred Cini on October 7, 1927, in South Philadelphia. He began his singing career in the late 1940s. His single Here in My Heart became Britain's first No. 1 single in 1952 and stayed on top for nine weeks.

He performed for Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium that year.

Martino had a run of chart singles through 1953, but his career stalled with the advent of rock 'n' roll. In 1963 he was back in the charts with the Top 5 hit I Love You Because. It was the first of six consecutive top 40 singles in less than two years, including I Love You More and More Every Day, which peaked at No. 9 in 1964, the ABC reports.

The Italian-American Martino continued to feature in the charts through the mid-70s, reaching the top 20 with To the Door of the Sun (Alle Porte del Sole) in 1974.

But a new audience got to know him as the heartthrob singer and would-be actor Johnny Fontane, godson of Don Vito Corleone, in the best picture Oscar winners The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974). He sang I Have but One Heart (O Marenariello) during the first film's wedding scene and on its score album The Love Theme From The Godfather.

Martino is survived by his wife, Judi; daughter Allison, son Alfred, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/6323684/Al-Martino-obituary.html

[samanthajane13]

'Godfather' singer Al Martino dies age 82: reports

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Al Martino, the chart-topping Italian-American crooner of ballads such as "Spanish Eyes" and "Volare" who played the wedding singer in "The Godfather," has died age 82, reports said Wednesday.

Martino's career spanned half a century, and at his peak in the 1950s and 1960s he was among the most recognizable pop stars on either side of the Atlantic.

He scored his first number one US hit in 1952, "Here in My Heart," a song which also became Britain's very first number one single.

He died Tuesday in a suburb of Philadelphia, the city where he was born and raised and eventually became a young bricklayer before running away from home and joining the US Navy at 15, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Jerry Blavat, a longtime friend and disc jockey who had dined with Martino on Monday night in Philadelphia, confirmed the death to the newspaper.

Martino "was a hero in South Philadelphia, with that magnificent voice of his," Blavat said.

"It's so crazy," he added. "Having dinner with him last night, dead now."

Born Alfred Cini in 1927, the romantic baritone had a string of hits including "Can't Help Falling in Love" and "Daddy's Little Girl."

He moonlighted in clubs and bars while working in his family's masonry business, but his singing career took off when he caught a break from a childhood friend, the opera star Mario Lanza, who had been due to record "Here in My Heart" but dropped his plans so that Martino's version could get airplay.

His biggest hit was 1965's "Spanish Eyes" -- described on his website as one of the 50 most-played songs worldwide -- but he reached millions of people in the 1970s and beyond by portraying washed up Frank Sinatra-esque singer Johnny Fontane in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic "The Godfather."

Martino sang the Oscar-winning film's theme song, "Speak Softly Love," and reprised the Fontane role in "The Godfather: Part III" in 1990.

Martino continued to perform, particularly in Europe, into the new millennium. Earlier this year he acknowledged he was losing a connection with a new generation of web-savvy listeners but hoped they would still be able to find romance in music.

"I can't sell records in stores anymore; everything is online and I don't have access to younger audiences," The New York Times quoted him as saying.

"But 20 or 30 years from now, how are kids going to feel romance?"


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091014/en_afp/entertainmentusmusicfilmpeoplemartino_200910141603 33


http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/samanthajane13/stuff/AlMartino.jpg


http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/samanthajane13/stuff/20091014_dn_g1mart14o.jpg

[SaraSidle]

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. – Singer Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather" and recorded hits including "Spanish Eyes" and the Italian ballad "Volare" in a 50-year musical career, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Martino died at his childhood home in the Philadelphia suburb of Springfield, in Delaware County, according to publicist Sandy Friedman, of the Rogers & Cowan public relations firm. Friedman didn't cite a cause of death.

Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including "Here in My Heart" and "Can't Help Falling in Love."

Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic "The Godfather," Martino sang the 1972 film's title score, "The Love Theme From The Godfather." His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor and is the godson of Brando's Mafia boss character, Don Vito Corleone.

The Italian-American crooner, born Alfred Cini, was one of a number of South Philadelphia-born singers, including Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Chubby Checker. He also was a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Calif.

Philadelphia radio and television personality Jerry Blavat dined with Martino and his wife on Monday night. Blavat told the Philadelphia Daily News that Martino appeared to be in fine shape and that he was shocked when he learned of the singer's death.

"He was the last of the show business legends," said Blavat, who has played Martino's songs on the radio for years. "There's nobody else. The last of the performers. A magnificent voice."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/ap_en_mu/us_obit_al_martino


:rose:RIP, Al!:rose:
Another voice added to the Celestial Choir...:(
We'll miss you!!!

yes we will