About...
January 1958; Frank Sinatra's first stereo album, "Come Fly With Me" hits No.1 in the charts. February was spent filming Kings Go Forth in France with Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis. In March, Frank proposed to Lauren Bacall and for 2 solid weeks in April he played 2 shows a night to sell-out crowds at The Sands in Las Vegas. 5,000 miles away in a Hertfordshire village, I slipped into the world un-noticed but for the loving anticipation of my adoring parents.
At 11 years of age I emigrated with my family to Canada and, after a few years as an awkward teenager, I left school as quickly as possible and joined the City of Toronto Police Dept. After six crazy years as a cop it wasn't long before I yearned for a different life with different rules and different people. I had always dreamed of being a performer and began to pursue work first as a catalogue model and then moving on to minor roles in theatre, film and television.
Dreams don't come easy and over the last 20 years I have paid the bills working as a labourer, in factories, as a bartender, bus driver, courier, dishwasher, doorman, postman and just about everything in between in cities all over North America including Mexico. I have studied my craft in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, London and most of the major cities of Europe.
In 1999 I decided I was going to be a singer. I convinced a piano player I could carry a tune and booked us into weddings, small clubs, bars and casinos. Six months later I produced and performed my first stage show My Pal Frank to a crowd of 250 paying customers in the foyer of the Palace Theatre in Southend-on-Sea.
I studied miles of video and concert footage of Sinatra performing his vast repetoire and watched all of his films over and over observing his mannerisms, tuning my ear to his voice and practising his accent and diction. I have read most of the biographies written on Frank by his family, friends, employees, lovers, hangers-on, admirers and enemies. I have listened to hours of recorded interviews and as life imitates art I find myself being compared to the most recognisable voice of the 20th century.
In 2003 I was offered the cover role of Frank Sinatra in the original West End cast of The Rat Pack - Live from Las Vegas. I went on to headline as Sinatra in the last 3 European tours of the same show and continued to perform in London's West End until the show closed in 2006.
1958 was a very good year.