VOA常速英语:Actor Robert Davi Sings Sinatra

After spending more than half of his lifetime making movies, Robert Davi has released Davi Sings Sinatra - On The Road To Romance.

“Coming from an Italian-American home you know there are two figures that you look up to - The Pope and Frank Sinatra, and not necessarily in that order,” he says.

According to Davi, Sinatra’s star power on both the stage and screen made a lasting impression.

“Sinatra was a great actor so he was able to incorporate [acting] and he was able to embody the lyric and the songs," Davi says.  "The diary of his life was in his songs and you need to live to hear these songs, to experience these songs; the classical quality of his voice, which transcends the moment, you know that amazing tone.

“I just love language and I was encouraged as an early kid (‘You should put him in the arts, he’s talented.’)  And then in the 8th grade my voice came out and once that happened I started to become obsessive about the voice and acting at the same time, and sports," recalls Davi. "I was playing sports.  I was playing football.  I was first place in New York State School of Music Association’s solo competition in singing, and first place in New York State for dramatic interpretation.  So it was a concurrent thing.  And then, in 1977, I wound up doing my first film with Frank Sinatra.”

Davi made his acting debut alongside Sinatra in the 1977 television movie Contract On Cherry Street.  Since then, he’s appeared in more than 100 films and TV shows, including Die Hard, License To Kill and Criminal Minds.

For his first outing as a recording artist, he turned to the Great American Songbook and some of the most romantic melodies of our time.

“For me music is a way to bring us together, to say, ‘Hey, this is a great country.’  And that’s the other thing, the love of country, the romance with America," he explains. "It’s not just the romance between two people, but it’s a romance with us as Americans and love for our country.”

Davi recently completed a screenplay titled The Voice, about a singer driven to succeed by his fascination with Frank Sinatra.  He describes it as “a musical journey through a man’s obsession with song.”  Davi will appear in the starring role.