American crooner Jimmy Roselli was born Dec. 26, 1925, in West New York, N.J. His mother died two days after his birth, and Roselli was raised in Hoboken by his grandfather and four aunts. He began performing as a child in local saloons; as an adult, he worked the nightclub circuit on the east coast. He released a handful of independent records before signing with United Artists in 1965. Several singles made the adult contemporary charts between 1966 and 1969, including “There Must Be a W...
American crooner Jimmy Roselli was born Dec. 26, 1925, in West New York, N.J. His mother died two days after his birth, and Roselli was raised in Hoboken by his grandfather and four aunts. He began performing as a child in local saloons; as an adult, he worked the nightclub circuit on the east coast.
He released a handful of independent records before signing with United Artists in 1965. Several singles made the adult contemporary charts between 1966 and 1969, including “There Must Be a Way” (1967; No. 13); “All the Time” (1967; No. 19); “Oh What It Seemed To Be” (1968; No. 35) and the movie theme song “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell” (1969, No. 38). Surprisingly, Roselli’s signature tune, “Mala Femmena,” only mustered its way to No. 135 on the Billboard "Bubbling Under" chart in 1963. He eventually released more than 30 albums: “Life & Love Italian Style” (1965; No. 96); “The Great Ones!” (1965; No. 145); “There Must Be a Way” (1967; No. 191); and “Core Spezzato” (1969; No. 184) were the most successful. Roselli owns the rights to his back catalogue and has released most of his early albums on compact disc.
Although Roselli was constantly in the shadow of Frank Sinatra (the Sinatra and Roselli families lived on the same street in Hoboken), Roselli carved out a healthy niche for himself, particularly among the Italian-American community. Although he never enjoyed the mainstream success of such Italian-American performers as Frankie Laine, Dean Martin, Vic Damone, Perry Como or Jerry Vale, he could easily fill such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Copacabana. In the ‘90s, he was a dependable sellout at New York's Westbury Music Fair and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City.
“Making the Wiseguys Weep: The Jimmy Roselli Story,” written by David Evanier, was published in 1998. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
