Artist:Al MartinoSong:Here In My Heart
Album:Capitol Collectors Series
Though most music fans are probably familiar with Al Martino's 60s hits like Spanish Eyes and his performance in the 1972 film The Godfather, they may not know that Here In My Heart was his only number one hit and is considered by many of his fans as his signature song. He was born Jasper "Al" Cini Oct. 7, 1927 in Philadelphia. His father was in the construction business and Al and his brothers worked as bricklayers. But Al was a big fan of Al Jolson and Perry Como and wanted to be a singer. He was encouraged to take the plunge when his boyhood pal Mario Lanza became a star. He renamed himself Al Martino. Martino was his mom's maiden name. Martino moved to New York in 1948 and got his big break when he won first place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts TV show in 1952. This earned him a record contract with the small label BBS. Here In My Heart was his first single and it topped the US pop singles chart for three weeks in 1952 and also topped the British charts for several weeks. From what I can tell, the song was written by Italian songwriter Pat Genaro and adapted into English by Bill Borrelli and and Lou Levinson. Vic Damone and Tony Bennett also charted with Here In My Heart but Martino's version was much bigger. RCA wanted Mario Lanza to record it but Martino asked him not to record it so not to compete with Martino's recording. This earned Martino a contract with Capitol. He had some more hits but his career was interrupted when The Mafia bought his contract and demanded $75K protection money. Martino moved to England to avoid this and returned to the US in 1958 when the coast was clear. He re-signed with Capitol in 1962 and had several mid-60s hits including I Love You Because and Spanish Eyes. When Martino's career faded in the late 60s, he played Johnny Fontane in the 1972 film The Godfather and had a hit with the song Speak Softly Love. You can get all of his hits on this budget CD. Al Martino continued to record until he left Capitol in 1982. He even had a decent hit with a disco version of Volare. He died on Oct. 15, 2009 at age 82. I would say his singing style was an operatic one similar to Mario Lanza but mixed with influences like Perry Como. Here's Al Martino performing Here In My Heart in the 70s.
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