New York Daily News

FRANKLY SPEAKING

Sinatra’s gone 20 yrs., but singers keep him alive

- BY JOE DZIEMIANOW­ICZ

The Voice still roars — and purrs.

The 20th anniversar­y of Frank Sinatra’s death at age 82 falls on Monday and Ol’ Blue Eyes still stirs audiences — as seen by 4.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify — and performers.

Ask three of them — including his granddaugh­ter AJ Lambert, actor Robert Davi and singer Steven Maglio — whose upcoming New York shows summon Sinatra in various ways.

Queens-born Davi, 66, is an opera-trained singer and actor with film and TV credits stretching from “The Goonies” and “License to Kill” to “Profiler” and beyond.

His Sinatra-themed tribute show running Wednesday and Thursday at Feinstein’s/54 Below on W. 54th St. celebrates his four-decade bond with the Chairman of the Board that began in 1977 on the set of “Contract on Cherry Street.” “It was my first movie. It started a relationsh­ip,” says Davi.

Sinatra’s voice has been heralded for its gentleness. Same goes for the man. “Frank and I were talking on the set of ‘Cherry Street,’” says Davi. “He saw scars on my neck and asked ‘Were you a forceps baby?’ I nodded. He showed me similar scars on his own neck.”

Such sensitivit­y and authentici­ty helps explain why Sinatra endures and attracts new fans, including 20- and 30-somethings, says Davi. “Millennial­s have grown up on shiny manufactur­ed voices, instead of someone who was able to perform without Auto-Tune and grab you.”

Davi is compiling his setlist, but plans to include “Where or When” and “A Foggy Day.” Also on deck: “Forget to Remember,” a lesser-known tune.

Maglio, who never met Sinatra, has made Swoonatra hits his specialty, but he cautions that he’s no copycat. “Right up front, I’m not a Sinatra impersonat­or,” he says. He’s careful not to “overdo the mannerisms. Sinatra would point a lot. So I don’t.”

Still, he channels Rat Pack ring-a-ding-ding while crooning “Fly Me to the Moon,” “My Way” and more Sinatra signatures. Whether he’s at his longrunnin­g show on Saturday night at the Carnegie Club in Midtown or new request-driven show at the Beach Club on Sunday night, Maglio keeps it easy-breezy as a “Summer Wind.”

“A lot of singers today mistake being comfortabl­e on stage with being lazy — as if they’re not putting on enough of a show,” says Maglio, 59, who lives in Hazlet, N.J., but grew up in East Harlem listening to his parents’ Sinatra records. “Sinatra was always himself, and natural.”

Lambert, 43, a third-generation singer who whose mom is Nancy Sinatra, knows that better than most. Her show on May 25 at Rough Trade in Brooklyn is a preview of her upcoming album, “Careful You.”

“It’s not a Sinatra show,” she says. But he’s an influence nonetheles­s. “I’m more acrobatic and dramatic on stage,” she says. But she has the “same love and respect for the writing of the song” as her grandfathe­r. To interpret a lyric, she says, “you need to know what you’re singing about. That’s important to both of us.”

Without going into details, she says she reserved some space for the show for a couple obscure Sinatra songs.

“He died when I was 24,” she says. “It’s a labor of love to make sure people keep hearing his music.”

 ??  ?? The song stylings of Frank Sinatra (right) live on in his granddaugh­ter AJ Lambert (left) and singers Steven Maglio (above) and Robert Davi (below).
The song stylings of Frank Sinatra (right) live on in his granddaugh­ter AJ Lambert (left) and singers Steven Maglio (above) and Robert Davi (below).
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