ROBERT DAVI SINGS THE GREAT AMERICAN SONGBOOK

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DAVI SINGS SINATRA

Story By: Ellen Sterling

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Robert Davi Sings Sinatra

Have you ever been to a one-man show where the audience so enjoyed it that they shouted at the performer to stay past he theater’s contractual closing time? Have you ever heard anyone sing the Great American Songbook as Frank Sinatra did, but, at the same time, putting his own stamp on it, and evoking this comment from the great Quincy Jones: “He absolutely touched me down to my soul and brought back the essence and soul of 'Ol Blue Eyes himself”? Have you heard reviews like this one from Bill Boggs: “[He] is enthralling. He brings a freshness to some of Sinatra’s most notable songs that makes them seem new again.”

Above were comments by reviewers and music business professionals in the USA after they saw Robert Davi perform Davi Sings Sinatra. He drew raves a few months ago in Australia, too. One writer said, “Robert Davi is not a clone of Frank Sinatra. Just because he uses Sinatra’s oeuvre as his songbook is no reason to label him a clone of Frank. Davi interpreted the songs he presented to us as he saw fit. Sinatra clones are a dime a dozen, but Signor Davi is an original performer.”

Another review noted Davi’s “technically impeccable” phrasing. There are dozens of reviews like that — praising his talent and the originality of his interpretation of the Sinatra songbook.

Robert Davi was born in Astoria, Queens, and grew up in Dix Hills, Long Island. He won a prestigious singing competition in high school, studied voice with some of the world’s best teachers and studied acting at Hofstra University, with Stella Adler and is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio, where he studied with Lee Strasberg.

Davi got his first film role from Frank Sinatra, who chose him for Contract On Cherry Street, Sinatra’s TV movie debut. As Davi was growing up, Sinatra provided the soundtrack of his life. (“I grew up in an Italian Catholic home. We idolized two people — the Pope and Frank Sinatra. Not necessarily in that order.”)

Audiences came to know Davi from such films as The Goonies (Jake Fratelli), Licence To Kill (Franz Sanchez(, the ahead-of-its-time TV series Profiler (Bailey Malone) and more than 130 other roles on film and TV. If you are accompanying him in a restaurant or on a walk, It’s fairly common for an admirer to walk up to him, point an index finger at him and say “Hey! I know you! You were (then the person names a particular role Davi played). “ He’s very good natured about this an seems to enjoy talking to his fans.

Going in a completely different direction, In 2011, Davi released his first CD, Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance. It quickly rose to #6 on the Billboard Jazz chart and it was then that Robert Davi began touring with his musical show. He toured the USA and Australia and is looking forward to soon taking it to Europe.

In the summers of 2013 he drew more than 10,000 people to a concert presented by County Executive Edward Mangano in Nassau County’s Eisenhower Park. In 2014, back by popular demand, he drew more than 13,000 people.Terrific as those gigs were, Davi is “especially thrilled” to be performing at the Paramount in Huntington, Long Island, next Sunday, November 23. The evening before, November 22, he’ll be at Foxwoods in Connecticut.

Davi’s appearance at Foxwoods comes just over 21 years to the day that Frank Sinatra opened the casino’s Fox Theater on November 19,1993. Davi regularly performs several of the songs today that were in Sinatra’s set list that night. These include “The House I Live In,” “The Best Is Yet To Come,” and “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” among many others.