SPANISH EYES – AL MARTINO
AL MARTINO (BORN JASPER CINI,OCTOBER 7, 1927 – OCTOBER 13, 2009) WAS AN AMERICAN SINGER AND ACTOR. HE HAD HIS GREATEST SUCCESS AS A SINGER BETWEEN THE EARLY 1950S AND MID 1970S, BEING DESCRIBED AS “ONE OF THE GREAT ITALIAN AMERICAN POP CROONERS”,AND ALSO BECAME WELL KNOWN AS AN ACTOR, PARTICULARLY FOR HIS ROLE AS SINGER JOHNNY FONTANE IN THE GODFATHER.
“MOON OVER NAPLES” IS A 1965 INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSED AND ORIGINALLY PERFORMED BY GERMAN BANDLEADER BERT KAEMPFERT AND WAS THE FIRST TRACK ON HIS ALBUM, THE MAGIC MUSIC OF FAR AWAY PLACES FOR DECCA RECORDS.
IT WOULD BECOME A HIT SINGLE IN 1966 FOR AL MARTINO WHEN LYRICS WERE ADDED BY COMPOSER EDDIE SNYDER AND SONGWRITER CHARLES SINGLETON, AND THE TITLE CHANGED TO “SPANISH EYES“.THE SONG WOULD GO ON TO BE PERFORMED BY THE LIKES OF ELVIS PRESLEY, ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK, WILLIE NELSON & JULIO IGLESIAS, WAYNE NEWTON AND FAITH NO MORE;IT WAS EVEN SUNG BY HOMER SIMPSON IN THE SIMPSONS EPISODE,
