tony v i v i a n o
For many fans, the death of Frank Sinatra marked the end of an era. But for local crooner Tony Viviano, swing music is alive and kicking.

Tony Viviano and His Big Band will perform at Billy & Diane’s reception on Saturday, June 17, 2000. Viviano sings tributes to the golden-throated vocalists who have influenced his own career — Sinatra, Tony Bennett and the late Bobby Darrin — as well as to the new generation of singers who are keeping the spirit of swing alive.

Like Sinatra, Viviano was a working-class Italian-American with a show-business dream. Viviano says he started imitating the music and mannerisms of Frank Sinatra as a St. Louis teen-ager in the late ‘60s. “I admired his phraseology, his finesse, his total control of making it look easy,” Viviano says.

Viviano has mastered his mentor’s style. He is never kitschy or ironic, but an actual entertainer who’s been singing the standards for 30 years and tries harder to please his audience than any rock band in town.

Excerpted from stories by Joe Williams in St. Louis Post-Dispatch