Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Where: Suncoast Showroom.
Tickets: $33, $38.50 and $44.
Information: 636-7075.
Al Martino didn't have to do a lot of research for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in the classic 1972 film, "The Godfather."
"I took the part because it was so similar to me," said the 73-year-old native of Philadelphia during a recent telephone interview from his home in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Martino, whose many hits include "Spanish Eyes" and "Painted Tainted Rose," will appear Saturday and Sunday at Suncoast.
Early in his career -- 1953 to be exact -- Martino fled the United States to keep out of reach of some "bad guys."
"I don't use the word 'Mafia,' " he said. "Some bad guys in Philadelphia took over my contract. It was bought out from my former manager."
The bad guys claimed Martino owed them $200,000. The singer said he didn't, and moved to England for six years.
It was a good-news, bad-news situation.
Martino had just released his first record, "Here in My Heart," a ballad that quickly sold more than one million copies in the United States. The song was No. 1 in England, and when Martino went there to perform it at the Palladium, he stayed.
"It was a blessed situation," Martino said.
If he was going to be in exile, he said he might as well do it first-class. People in England adored him. He said "Here in My Heart" was the first song by someone from the United States to hit No. 1 on the singles chart in Great Britain, a feat that is noted in the Guinness Book of Records.
"I had no idea my success was going to be so huge over there," Martino said.
He toured and recorded in England until 1959, when he decided it was time to return home.
"My 'Godfather' brought me back," Martino quipped. "I had someone in Philadelphia negotiate my return for me. Then I came back, incognito, to have a meeting with the Philadelphia don.
"He asked me to give him a reason why I should be allowed to come back. I told him I didn't owe the money. He said he would negotiate."
Finally Martino returned to the United States, without paying the alleged debt, and launched a career that has since spanned four decades.
Martino said Nov. 14 will mark the 50th year that his recording of "Here in My Heart" became No. 1 in the New Musical Express, the first newspaper in England to publish charts of best-selling records Great Britain.
"The Guinness Book is making a big thing out of it," he said. "They've invited me back (to England) for a concert on the 50th anniversary."
Martino said he is indebted to the legendary opera tenor Mario Lanza for "Here in My Heart."
"I made a recording of the song in 1952 and persuaded Barry Kaye, a DJ on (AM station) WCAU in Philadelphia, to play it," Martino said.
Martino said the song was an instant success locally.
"After it was on the air for about three weeks in Philadelphia, someone from RCA heard it," Martino said. "Mario (Lanza) recorded for RCA. They contacted him and said the song would be perfect for Mario."
Lanza, who died in 1959, came from the same Philadelphia neighborhood as Martino, who was 10 years younger.
"I got wind that Mario was going to record it and I called him. I reached out to him," Martino said. "He said, 'Al, if this is your big opportunity, I'm going to turn RCA down.'
"So I had the whole record for myself. If he had recorded it, I wouldn't be where I am today."
Martino says he owes his spot in "The Godfather" to Phyllis McGuire.
"She called me up about the scripts and said, 'That's you all over,' " Martino said. "She went to bat for me."
McGuire said she had received an advance copy of the script from one of the film's producers.
"Frank (Sinatra) had decided he wasn't going to play the part (of Johnny Fontane)," she said. "They wanted my opinion."
McGuire said Martino was the first person to come to mind. "I have great respect for his talent," she said.
The part in "The Godfather" resulted in a number of gigs in Las Vegas, including a run at the Sands in 1971, which had been purchased by Howard Hughes.
"(The late entertainment director) Walter Kane asked me to open up his room at the Sands for him," Martino said.
Martino said his career has been filled with peaks and valleys.
"There were times when I would go six or seven months without work," he said. "But every time I had a hit record, my agent would call and tell me there was more work.
"Lately I haven't had to depend on records. There is a lot of concert work out there."
When Martino finishes his performance in Las Vegas he will leave for a gig in Munich, Germany.
Hopefully, it won't be another six-year engagement.
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