-- Continued from the last issue
It became a very depressing ten months, nothing was happening, I was running short of money. Argentina Brunetti and Maria Bozzano were always there for me, they called me almost daily to see if I was alright, but I almost became embarrassed to speak to them and tell them the same story day after day, things were not going well.
Roger Boschetti also telephoned often to see if I needed anything, but I used to say that all was going fine. I got to the point where I had about $2.00 left in my bank account. I was frightened to death not knowing what was going to happen. God must have heard my prayers because the next day I received a check from my parents, which got me through for a little while longer.
Argentina and Maria, two people who had a lifetime of experience in show business knew very well what I was going through and were not fooled by my claim that I was ok. Argentina Brunetti was a most wonderful, talented actress who had worked with just about every Hollywood legend in the business. She had appeared in over two hundred movies and television shows and in the early sixties hosted a radio program called the Voice of America where she interviewed just about every big star in Hollywood.
During my time in America, she appeared in movies, had a three-year part in General Hospital, did translations for Dino De Laurentis and continued to write for the L’Italo-Americano and Gente magazine.
Maria Bozzano worked at Paramount Studios for over thirty years as a secretary to various directors. One day, sitting at the table in my apartment where I had invited them over for lunch, Argentina asked me “Jay, how are you doing? You look a little pale.” Maria turned to me and said “I think you’re just living on pasta and nothing else, you’ve lost your color and seem miserable.” Then, like two wonderful mother hens they said “I think you better pack your bags and come live with us at our home, so we can keep an eye on you.”
I lived at their home in the Hollywood Hills for three years. These two wonderful people took me into their home, cared for me, fed me, washed and ironed my clothes, shared my frustrations, my pain, at times my tears and occasionally some joyous happenings when things seemed as though they would begin turning for the better.
I thanked God many times for having sent someone like Argentina and Maria into my life. How does one describe the gratitude that one feels when people who don’t even know you take you into their home, care for you, love you like a member of the family and never ask for anything in return.
Till this day I think about it and tell my wife and my children about these incredible people like Roger, Rachel, Argentina, Maria and others whom I met though them like the Vitagliano family, who were so unbelievably helpful and amazing kind of people.
One night I heard that there was a special industry night at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood. I went there and the hostess at the club, a lovely young lady, arranged for me to get in and asked the guys in the band if I could sing a song.They came over and said “we’ll call you on stage to sing when the time is right.” Unfortunately it was quite late and there were very few people left in the club.
After my song, I three people approached me. One was an agent from downtown LA who belonged to an office called Countryman Agency, the other two were two lovely ladies who were both agents with an office in Hollywood called the Lynn and Reilly Agency.They dropped their business card on the table, said how much they enjoyed my performance and asked me to call them. It was the first exciting thing that had happened to me in over a year and after meeting with both agents, I decided to sign up with the Lynn and Reilly agency. Sisters Judy Lynn and Teresa Reilly were two agents whose connections were mainly in the motion picture business and not so much in the music industry, but I signed with them because they had a sincerity about them and came across genuinely human and not the usual sharks you meet in the business.
While they were not big and powerful like William Morris agency, I got the feeling that they really liked me and wanted to work hard to make things happen for both me and their agency.
Within six months they got me some bookings and eventually a publishing and recording contract. They worked hard and truly believed in me both as an artist and as a person and I got to truly love and admire them for the kind of people they were.The three years that I signed with them, things got better. I was performing in some amazing places like Tiffany’s in Pasadena, the famous My Place night club in Beverly Hills, Harvey’s Hotel in Lake Tahoe, a tour to perform at the Quality Inn Hotels chain and then the release of my first record. There was now movement in my career, but disappointments were always close by. My first record release with Calliope Records did not go anywhere. I then signed a deal with Carnival records.
I was on tour when I got the call from my agent to tell me that my song titled “Mamma” which I had written was listed in Billboard magazine as new single pick of the week. My joy did not last too long because two weeks after, the record company announced that they were broke and were folding.
I signed a contract to star for two weeks at the new Moulin Rouge Hotel in Las Vegas following the grand opening of the hotel on the 4th of July by Wayne Newton, but it fell through even though contracts were signed.
With disappointment after disappointment I decided to go back home to Australia.I met Gisele shortly after coming back home. She is a wonderful singer with an amazing voice and definitely the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Gisele was one of the performers appearing on the bill at the Festa di San Antonio in Sydney. It was not too long before we fell in love, married and became a duet.
Gisele and I have traveled around Australia performing in special events, clubs, concerts etc. and feel privileged to have been voted the most popular Italian Australian Artists at the Italian song festival of Australia which is equivalent to the San Remo festival in Italy.
In the Italian Australian community we are the only husband and wife couple in the business and because of our style of songs and passion we both share for what we do on stage, the Italian community nicknamed us “Australia’s Al Bano and Romina.” Al Bano and Romina Powers, daughter of the famous actor Tyron Powers, are no doubt the most famous international super stars of the Italian music.
This famous husband and wife duet, who unfortunately separated in 1995, have always been two artists whose songs we have always loved and we include a great selection of their songs in our show simply because we love their music and find it suitable for our own style. We have always admired Al Bano and Romina, but we are not impersonators or imitators of other artists although we gladly accept, with great honor, the nickname “Australia’s Al Bano and Romina” given to us by the Italian community.
Gisele and I recently celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. We are blessed with three children all of whom share the same passion for music that Gisele and I have. Ria, the eldest of our two girls is 24 years old and she has an amazing voice, just like young Celine Dion. Christina is 21 years of age and also incredibly talented. We love to listen to them sing and try not to miss an opportunity to go out and see them when they are performing.
Both girls started singing in the show with us at the age of four. From a very young age they have been with us on just about every club stage in Australia. The girls still occasionally perform with Gisele and me as a family group but are very busy performing their own music.
Our son Ross is 15 years old. He is still at school, but has appeared in about twenty commercials, TV shows, movies and recently was cast as the lead actor in an Australian series called “Snobs”. It’s a series about a young boy and his dog, similar to Lassie. Ross also has his own band and plays guitar.
Gisele and I have just recorded and released our latest CD “Omaggio ad Al Bano e Romina” (A Tribute to Al Bano and Romina). It is something that we have wanted to do for a long time. The CD features 21 of Al Bano and Romina’s greatest hits and we are delighted to hear the fabulous reviews the CD is getting.
A 2008 tour of the US and Canada is in the planning stages and your “Italian Connection” will keep you posted. Email: globemanagement@optusnet.com.au
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