Frank Sylvano
Francesco Lanzalotti Sylvano was an American tenor of the 1920s and 1930s. A member of the Isham Jones Orchestra, he was described as "the romantic voice of the air."
Frankie Laine, who in his youth met Sylvano, characterized him as having a "bouncy style" in his 1993 autobiography, That Lucky Old Son: The Autobiography of Frankie Laine.
Early life
Frank Sylvano was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 17, 1901, to an Italian-American family. Having become a choirboy, he later secured employment as a song plugger for a music publisher at the age of 18.Career
Sylvano was among the vocalists featured by Isham Jones during the 1920s and 1930s when the band produced a series of popular gramophone records for Brunswick. In 1921, Sylvano sang on Chicago's inaugural radio station, KYW, on the very night of its first broadcast. Three years later, he performed for the then Prince of Wales Edward VIII, during his visit to Chicago. Thereupon, he sang alongside not only Jones’s orchestra, but also Abe Lyman’s, Ben Bernie's, and Fred Waring's, contributing approximately 500 vocal choruses on records for these prominent orchestras.By 1936, Sylvano was said to have retired from the entertainment field, deciding to later operate a café on the South Side of Chicago.