Following the Frank Sinatra footsteps

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHTFrank Sinatra – Strangers In The Night – 1966 was the song with I discovered to Frank Sinatra, and, therefore, a very important song in my life.

FRANK SINATRA – STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

Jose Castilla tells about his admiration for Frank Sinatra.

In this photo I was 22. Above the piano I have a picture of Frank Sinatra to which I am pointing and saying, “This is my teacher. My reference as a Singer”

I was born in the city of Burgos (Spain).

What person has not proposed a goal in your life? Who has not wanted to see his dream become reality?.

My goal, my dream was to become a singer in the style of Frank Sinatra. And once I was convinced I wanted to be a singer, I set to work.

It all started one afternoon in summer of 1966 ( I was 18 years old). I lighted the radio and then I heard a new song which title was Strangers in the night. an the interpreter of the song was a U.S. singer named Frank Sinatra. For me this singer was unknown and  was the first time I heard that song. I exclaimed: «He is a marvellous singer; never before I had heard such a voice, and the song is really fantastic».Since then my admiration for Frank Sinatra grew gradually.But what at first was only admiration, this feeling soon became the desire to be like him.

How to start the way to become a singer?. I felt it was important to have a minimal musical training, so at the end of the summer of 1966 I enrolled at the music conservatory of Burgos(Spain) for learning piano.
I must say that aside from dreaming of becoming a singer,I had to keep my feet on the ground, which meant I had to make a living. Then I decided to prepare the opposition to work in the Postal Service.  In the year 1975  I was working in the Postal Service of Spain as officer.

I worked, I studied and I dreamed of one day becoming a singer Frank Sinatra style.
If I wanted to sing the songs of Sinatra, I had to learn English, so I started studying English  in a language school.

I started thinking about the following plan: Frank Sinatra knew that a young Spanish idealist who wanted to become a singer of his school. I thought the most appropriate way would be record some songs.I made a contract with a pianist and a recording studio and I recorded four songs:  Days of Wine and Roses; Hey! jealous lover; Strangers in the Night and Three coins in the fountain.

I put the tape in an envelope and sent it to my teacher and admired Frank Sinatra, on May 23, 1974, to the following address:Mr. Frank Sinatra 4000 Warner Bld, Berbank California 91505.This address was not correct, so the Post Office USA sent the letter to the following address: 1041 N. Formosa Hollywood, CA 90046

The dream collapsed when in early July of 1974,  I received the return envelope sent to Frank Sinatra 23.Mars.1974 with my recording.It was a blow, but not enough to keep me out of combat.I continued playing the piano and learning songs as: Strangers in the ninght, Begin the Begin, I’ve got you under my skin, and others.
I got the idea of going to the U.S., but I lacked the courage.

Within days of receiving returned the envelope containing the tape I sent to Sinatra, I had a pleasant dream related to Frank . It was like this:

«I was in my room playing the piano the song Strangers in the night. Suddenly and in the distance I heard a familiar voice singing the song I was playing. Gradually the voice was closer and I could listen to clearly, was the voice of Frank Sinatra. He stood beside me and said, «Boy, you play  the piano very well.» A few minutes later the alarm went off. It was time to get up to go to work». 

That beautiful dream always carry it in my heart.

It was not a dream and if a wonderful reality occurred on September 24, 1986, the day before that Frank Sinatra gave a concert at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, Madrid (Spain).

This was my real dream:

This photo was taken in Madrid on September 24, 1986. Frank Sinatra is in the car that took him from the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, it was the place of the concert, to the Ritz Hotel, where Sinatra was staying. This photo was taken about 20 meters from the main entrance.

I was standing by the door of the Ritz hotel with other Sinatra fans waiting to see him back to the hotel after performing the tests. It was about 8 in the evening. A pleasant summer evening. I see a high-end black car approaching the front door of hotel. People started saying enthusiastically: «! Is Frank Sinatra, Frank Sinatra !». The car stopped a few meters from the front door of the hotel.The car door opened and Frank came out showing his happy face and lit with his pleasant smile.and got out of it. Enthusiasm rose sharply: «! Frank, Frank!».

We were all excited to have so close to us a remarkable singer who was known by the nickname «The Voice».We were all very happy to be so close to seeing Frank Sinatra. Directed his steps to the front door of the Ritz hotel.

I was in a privileged posisitión because I made friends with the people responsible for ensuring the safety of Frank., so I was with them at the time that Sinatra went beyond the threshold of the door to the hotel. I stood in front of FRANK SINATRA and held out my hand, he did the same, I said in English (very happy and full of emotion): «You are the best».

It was  magical, unforgettable, full of excitement and happiness, to see face to face and shake hands with my admired teacher.

Fortunately for me, I still had a second part to enjoy the presence of Frank Sinatra, I would go to see him in concert.

I

This entry was posted on miércoles, octubre 24th, 2012 at 10:26 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.