Santo and Johnny Farina were born in Brooklyn, New York; Santo on October 24, 1937 and Johnny on April 30, 1941. Their father was drafted into the Army while they were children and was stationed for some time in Oklahoma. After hearing a steel guitar on the radio, he wrote to his wife, "I'd like the boys to learn to play this instrument".
Upon returning from World War II, the boys' father found a music teacher who gave the boys steel guitar lessons. When Santo was a teenager, he was able to get a local music store to modify an acoustic guitar, allowing him to play it like a steel guitar.
Within two years, Santo was performing in amateur shows on a new Gibson six-string steel guitar and had started receiving lessons from a steel guitar teacher who had studied in Hawaii. By the age of fourteen, Santo was composing songs, and formed an instrumental trio with a guitarist and drummer. This trio appeared at local dances and parties, performing both original compositions and some Hawaiian standards. With money Santo made from these performances, he bought another steel guitar, one with three necks, each with eight strings. This allowed him to experiment even further, and he tried different tunings until he found ones that appealed to him.
When Johnny reached the age of twelve, he began to play accompaniment to Santo on a standard electric guitar. The brothers soon formed a duo and became rather popular in school, eventually performing at events in the New York boroughs. They recorded a demo which they circulated to local New York record companies.
In 1958, Mike Dee & The Mello Tones (Santo Farina, steel guitar; Johnny Farina, guitar and their uncle Mike Dee, drums) recorded a self-penned instrumental which they called "Deep Sleep". Loosely inspired by the song "Softly, As In The Morning Sunrise (Sigmund Romberg, 1929), it had the same chord progression but a much simpler melody line.
"Deep Sleep" became "Sleep Walk" and in August 1959 it topped the American charts. "Sleep Walk" continues to be one of the most popular and easily recognized instrumentals of all time.
The brothers eventually came to the attention of a music publishing company and signed a song writer's contract and eventually a contract with Canadian-American Records. Their first release, "Sleep Walk", was composed by the two brothers. (The original single credits three Farinas, including an "A. Farina" for the composition. It's sometimes reported that their mother or sister helped, but this is apparently false. It was recorded at Trinity Records in Manhattan. "Sleep Walk" entered Billboard's 'Top 40' on August 17, 1959. It rose to the No. 1 position for two weeks in September (the 21st and the 28th) and remained in the 'Top 40' list until November 9. It was the last instrumental to hit #1 in the 1950s and earned Santo & Johnny a gold record.[4] The follow-up song "Tear Drop" was also a hit, though their LP Santo & Johnny was less successful in the United States.
After touring Europe, Mexico, and Australia, Santo & Johnny signed to an Italian record label and had several hits in Europe that included "Sleep Walk", "Love Story", "Maria Elena", "Ebb Tide", "Love is Blue", "Enchanted Sea", and others. In 1964, they released an album of The Beatles covers; "And I Love Her" hit #1 in Mexico and held the spot for 21 weeks. In 1973, Santo & Johnny recorded the theme to the movie The Godfather, which went to #1 in Italy and stayed at that spot for 21 weeks.[citation needed] They received a gold record in Italy and were inducted into the Italian Music Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
They continued recording and releasing albums until 1976, after which Santo and Johnny both began solo careers. At present, Santo is semi-retired and Johnny currently tours and records new material with his own band, revisiting songs from his days with the duo. Johnny currently serves as President of Aniraf, Inc., an international record label based out of New York.
Johnny continues to milk it(here with Carmen Elecktra) , while Santo is said to have retired. To me, Johnny seems like he could've been cast or been part of the script in any Scorcesse film and fit perfect. Well, maybe the Sopranos would be more acurate.
Who could resist being on prime time Mexican TV? (there really must be a great story deep inside their career)
You got to hand it to the man for hanging in there although that last pic has gone a bit into the surreal.
As far as their LP's???? They, as well as most artists covered EVERYTHING. Yet they chose most of them well to fit their style.(in the early days) The best years were for sure the Sleepwalk and Teardrop 45rpm release.
There are gems out there like "Theme From a Summer Place", "Spooky", "Caravan" etc.
Tracks:
45's to mp3's
01. Sleepwalk
02. In The Still Of The Night
03. Caravan
04. Over The Rainbow
05. All Night Diner
06. Crying In The Chapel
07. Raunchy
08. Teardrop
09. Venus
10. Summertime
11. School Days
12. Theme From Come September
13. Harbor Lights
14. You Belong To Me
15. Bulls-Eye
16. A Thousand Miles Away
17. Deep Purple
18. Save The Last Dance For Me
19. Hop Scotch
20. Blue Moon
21. Lazy Day
22. Dream Lover
23. Prisoner Of Love
24. Canadian Sunset
25. Tequila
26. Tenderly
27. Shake Rattle & Roll
28. Teardrop (Demo Version)
29. Annie
30. Dream
31. Twistin Bells
Get It
via rockin' daddy
Santo and Johnny Farina were born in Brooklyn, New York; Santo on October 24, 1937 and Johnny on April 30, 1941. Their father was drafted into the Army while they were children and was stationed for some time in Oklahoma. After hearing a steel guitar on the radio, he wrote to his wife, "I'd like the boys to learn to play this instrument".
Upon returning from World War II, the boys' father found a music teacher who gave the boys steel guitar lessons. When Santo was a teenager, he was able to get a local music store to modify an acoustic guitar, allowing him to play it like a steel guitar.
Within two years, Santo was performing in amateur shows on a new Gibson six-string steel guitar and had started receiving lessons from a steel guitar teacher who had studied in Hawaii. By the age of fourteen, Santo was composing songs, and formed an instrumental trio with a guitarist and drummer. This trio appeared at local dances and parties, performing both original compositions and some Hawaiian standards. With money Santo made from these performances, he bought another steel guitar, one with three necks, each with eight strings. This allowed him to experiment even further, and he tried different tunings until he found ones that appealed to him.
When Johnny reached the age of twelve, he began to play accompaniment to Santo on a standard electric guitar. The brothers soon formed a duo and became rather popular in school, eventually performing at events in the New York boroughs. They recorded a demo which they circulated to local New York record companies.
In 1958, Mike Dee & The Mello Tones (Santo Farina, steel guitar; Johnny Farina, guitar and their uncle Mike Dee, drums) recorded a self-penned instrumental which they called "Deep Sleep". Loosely inspired by the song "Softly, As In The Morning Sunrise (Sigmund Romberg, 1929), it had the same chord progression but a much simpler melody line.
"Deep Sleep" became "Sleep Walk" and in August 1959 it topped the American charts. "Sleep Walk" continues to be one of the most popular and easily recognized instrumentals of all time.
The brothers eventually came to the attention of a music publishing company and signed a song writer's contract and eventually a contract with Canadian-American Records. Their first release, "Sleep Walk", was composed by the two brothers. (The original single credits three Farinas, including an "A. Farina" for the composition. It's sometimes reported that their mother or sister helped, but this is apparently false. It was recorded at Trinity Records in Manhattan. "Sleep Walk" entered Billboard's 'Top 40' on August 17, 1959. It rose to the No. 1 position for two weeks in September (the 21st and the 28th) and remained in the 'Top 40' list until November 9. It was the last instrumental to hit #1 in the 1950s and earned Santo & Johnny a gold record.[4] The follow-up song "Tear Drop" was also a hit, though their LP Santo & Johnny was less successful in the United States.
After touring Europe, Mexico, and Australia, Santo & Johnny signed to an Italian record label and had several hits in Europe that included "Sleep Walk", "Love Story", "Maria Elena", "Ebb Tide", "Love is Blue", "Enchanted Sea", and others. In 1964, they released an album of The Beatles covers; "And I Love Her" hit #1 in Mexico and held the spot for 21 weeks. In 1973, Santo & Johnny recorded the theme to the movie The Godfather, which went to #1 in Italy and stayed at that spot for 21 weeks.[citation needed] They received a gold record in Italy and were inducted into the Italian Music Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
They continued recording and releasing albums until 1976, after which Santo and Johnny both began solo careers. At present, Santo is semi-retired and Johnny currently tours and records new material with his own band, revisiting songs from his days with the duo. Johnny currently serves as President of Aniraf, Inc., an international record label based out of New York.
Johnny continues to milk it(here with Carmen Elecktra) , while Santo is said to have retired. To me, Johnny seems like he could've been cast or been part of the script in any Scorcesse film and fit perfect. Well, maybe the Sopranos would be more acurate.
Who could resist being on prime time Mexican TV? (there really must be a great story deep inside their career)
You got to hand it to the man for hanging in there although that last pic has gone a bit into the surreal.
As far as their LP's???? They, as well as most artists covered EVERYTHING. Yet they chose most of them well to fit their style.(in the early days) The best years were for sure the Sleepwalk and Teardrop 45rpm release.
There are gems out there like "Theme From a Summer Place", "Spooky", "Caravan" etc.
Tracks:
45's to mp3's
01. Sleepwalk
02. In The Still Of The Night
03. Caravan
04. Over The Rainbow
05. All Night Diner
06. Crying In The Chapel
07. Raunchy
08. Teardrop
09. Venus
10. Summertime
11. School Days
12. Theme From Come September
13. Harbor Lights
14. You Belong To Me
15. Bulls-Eye
16. A Thousand Miles Away
17. Deep Purple
18. Save The Last Dance For Me
19. Hop Scotch
20. Blue Moon
21. Lazy Day
22. Dream Lover
23. Prisoner Of Love
24. Canadian Sunset
25. Tequila
26. Tenderly
27. Shake Rattle & Roll
28. Teardrop (Demo Version)
29. Annie
30. Dream
31. Twistin Bells
Get It
via rockin' daddy
