Life lessons

learned in the pool

newsday.com/act2

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G27

act two

act2

MYTURN

N1

Ready for an

ENCORE
daniel.bubbeo@newsday.com

At Giovanni's Cafe in Massapequa Park, Frizalone performs Sinatra favorites. Though his life detoured to real estate,
he says, I would have had a lot more fun being in the entertainment business. ] Video, photos at newsday.com/act2

NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

See FRIZALONE on G22

newsday.com

rank Frizalone knows he has a talent for

selling real estate, but a few years ago,
he realized he still had a talent for also
selling a song.
In the 1970s, Frizalone performed
with a jazz group, where he sang at
some long-gone Long Island hangouts called
Sonnys Place in Seaford and Dixons White
House Inn in Massapequa. He loved the applause and especially the chance to croon the
tunes of Frank, the legend.
Luck Be a Lady. The Lady Is a Tramp. You
cant beat that music, Frizalone says. They just
arent writing songs like that anymore.
Though he got a special thrill singing for an
audience, Frizalone opted to forgo a show-biz
career and instead went to New York Institute
of Technology where he majored in business.
Despite a successful career in real estate he
owned and then sold a brokerage firm before his
current job as executive director at Cushman
and Wakefield in Melville he longed to return
to music.
Ive always said I ruined my life by going to
college, jokes Frizalone, 62, who lives in North
Massapequa. I would have had a lot more fun
being in the entertainment business.
Now Frizalone is getting his encore. Thanks
to encouragement from singer Connie Francis,
whom he met three years ago, Frizalone has
been performing the music of Sinatra his way in
a cabaret show with three other performers,
including his brother John. In addition to that
act, which plays at Guy Anthonys in North
Merrick on Oct. 23 and Il Classico Restaurant
and Caterers in Massapequa Park at a date to be
determined in October, he does his Sinatra thing
as part of a Rat Pack-themed group called Dean
and Friends, which has entertained in New York
City and Florida.
He probably never would have revived his
singing career if it wasnt for Francis. He met
the songstress who topped the charts in the
1960s, crooning Where the Boys Are and
Whos Sorry Now? through a mutual friend.
Over lunch at the Friars Club in Manhattan, she
listened intently as Frizalone talked about how
much he missed performing. She told him he
needed to start singing again.
And I said, Its too late. Nobody wants to see

Frank Frizalone
left music
for real estate
decades ago.
With a boost from
Connie Francis,
hes singing again

JEREMY BALES

BY DANIEL BUBBEO

ACT2

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act two

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Frank Frizalone, like Frank Sinatra, has a knack for connecting to lyrics and to his audience, one entertainment manager said. Earlier this month he entertained

NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

newsday.com

FRIZALONE from G21

a gray-haired 60-year-old,
Frizalone says.
But Francis believed otherwise and invited him to her
75th birthday party where he
got the chance to perform for
an audience filled with some
show-biz heavyweights.
I was shaking to death,
Frizalone says.
Apparently, it didnt affect
his performance. I thought
this was some guy who had
made recordings back in the
60s. . . . I couldnt believe it. I
was blown away, says Christopher Gambale, a producer
whose credits include the
upcoming Broadway production of Dames at Sea.
Frizalone was hooked. I
said to myself, I gotta do this
again. I love the applause and
the compliments, he says.
After that I got serious and
started working with a vocal
coach.

Early musical training

Frizalone jokes that he grew
up in a tough neighborhood
in Brooklyn.
How tough was it? he asks,
slipping into a Rodney Dangerfield voice. In the restaurant
they had broken leg of lamb.
As a youth, he learned to
play the trombone, which he
said was instrumental in helping him as a singer. I learned
breath control, he says. And
then I also played the drums
and that gave me a sense of
rhythm. My phrasing and my
rhythm were an outgrowth of
that.
He also took voice lessons,
though there was one piece of
advice his teacher gave him
that he didnt always heed. I
would always get so worked
up and be uncomfortable
before I sang. She would tell
me to not get worked up and
just do it, he says.
Though Frizalone says family pressure was what ultimate-

FRIZALONE FAMILY

Getting back in full

Connie Francis, right, encouraged Frizalone, left, to resume
singing. They are joined by his son, Peter, for dinner in Little Italy.
ly led him to divert from his
musical career path in his 20s,
he adds, I probably had some
doubt that that was the right
direction to go in.
After graduating from NYIT,
he went to work for a mortgage company and then Citibank before turning to real
estate. Hes also been married
for 28 years to his wife, Linda,
and has a son, Peter, 25, who,

like his father, has a day job in

real estate. On the side, Peter
has made several short films,
including Mommy, which
was screened at the Long
Beach Film Festival earlier this
month.
Though Frizalone jokes his
wife was not 100 percent
happy about his decision to
perform again, shes been very
supportive.

My first concern was the

amount of hours Frank works
being a global real estate consultant and I felt that singing
would add more stress to his
life, she says. However, after
watching him perform and
how the audience has grown
with every performance, I
know this is what makes him
happy.

My voice, his songs

Also continuing to be supportive has been Francis, who
co-sponsored Frizalones membership with the Friars Club,
where he has performed on
occasion. And though Frizalones specialty is performing
the songs of Ol Blue Eyes,
dont call him a Sinatra impersonator.
Its my regular voice, Im
just doing his songs, he says.
I pretty much do sound like
him without even trying.
Like Sinatra, he also knows
how to connect to lyrics and

N1

Planning for Medicaid needs is one of the most

important things you can do for yourself and for
your family during your lifetime.

G23

act two

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ACT2

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swing
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NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 2015

includes artists who perform as

Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and
Jerry Lewis. Theyll be ringing in
2016 when they perform in Fort
Myers, Florida, on New Years
Eve.
Though Frizalone says hes not
sure exactly what trajectory his
second-chance career will follow,
for now hes just enjoying the ride.
Im going to take it to wherever
it takes me, Frizalone says. Hopefully five years from now Im still
doing it and still able to do it. And
hopefully theres an audience out
there who still wants to see what
Im doing.

Ensure that an unexpected or

lengthy illness wont destroy
what youve spent a lifetime
building.

newsday.com

his audience, says Jerry Nolan, an

entertainment manager who hired
Dean and Friends for a Joe Franklin
tribute show in Manhattan last
month.
He doesnt look anything like
Sinatra, but he has a great voice,
Nolan says. And he keeps growing
greatly as a performer. The way he
can sincerely belt out a tune is
amazing. He also stares into the
audience when he performs. Some
people concentrate on one person.
He makes everyone feel at ease.
Frizalone, who says he was a fan
of Dean Martins TV variety show,
says one of his ideas was to bring
back some of that spirit in the cabaret show he performs with his brother and two others singer Anita
Bloomfield and comedian Bobby
Anselmo.
I can do my Sinatra thing. Anita
does cabaret music, so we do a duet.
John is a doo-wop guy and Bobby is
one of the best stand-up comics
around, he says.
He also continues to perform
with Dean and Friends which

Avoid losing your home and

assets to growing nursing home
costs or long term care.