Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A four-time Grammy-winning Canadian singer who revived the Great American Songbook with his smooth vocals and swing style.
On the island
Eight records
My first singing coach was a man named Murray Carroll, who was one of the platters. I was about 16 years old, and he introduced me to Donnie Hathaway, and I fell in love with this song. And for me, being able to sing it to my fans at the end of shows for the last 15 years has been deeply satisfying.
This Love of MineFavourite
It's such a beautiful, sad, deep song that resonated with me early on.
Michael Jackson had a massive impact. I thought he was marvelous. I thought the songwriting was uh so incredible. He had the most unique voice.
Of course I said my father was a fisherman, so that meant that he was away for a long time, sometimes six months of a year. And um this was uh my mom and my dad's song.
from my money, is the greatest artist that ever lived. And I just think Elvis Presley defied genres. ... He was kind and empathetic and a beautiful human being.
Eminem, I think, is a genius. I think he's one of the greatest musicians in the world right now. ... And if this song doesn't pump you up, I don't know what will.
I love the song. I think it's really just so beautiful. And I had the opportunity of meeting Paul.
I chose a fellow Canadian, I think one of the world's greatest poets, Leonard Cohen, and more than that, an eccentric eclectic artist with a voice so distinct that he puts a song across like no one else. I chose the song Hallelujah. How much deeper can you get than this song? And it's poetic and beautiful, and I think it might be one of the most beautiful songs ever written.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:50What is the essence of a really, really good gig for you?
Oh, I think having enough sensitivity so that you can actually connect with your fellow human beings. You know, so many people are so busy trying to be too cool for school that they can't get over themselves enough to actually interact. And and I think that what makes a great entertainer is someone who is empathetic and sensitive, and more than that, someone who actually genuinely appreciates the opportunity to share their music.
Presenter asks
3:19How do you begin to make songs like 'I've Got You Under My Skin' and 'My Funny Valentine' your own? What is the process?
That's a lovely question. know yourself and have a distinct personality and a passion. I mean, I I've said it before, if I had to go on a desert island and there was only one genre of music I could take with me, that's the music that truly does fill my soul. It it nurtures me. To me it's just it's so complex and beautiful.
Presenter asks
6:10Do you think there was something about the [Italian immigrant] emotional intensity that wasn't typically North American that made you more in touch with those feelings [in the music]?
The keepsakes
The book
Eckhart Tolle
I would need a self-help book to at least be able to tell myself, it's going to be okay, coconuts are delicious.
The luxury
I could at least figure out what time it was and how many days I'd been there.
You know, I feel culturally, you know, even someone like Frank Sinatra, even Dean Martin, they weren't born in Italy. Their family had emigrated. But there's something about culture. When a family leaves to another country, they seem to want to hold on to their traditions so very tightly because they're so afraid to lose them. I go to Italy, and my family there has become more Americanized than my own family, because we've held on so tightly to these very Italian traditions.
Presenter asks
7:00What were the family traditions that somehow resonated [at Thanksgiving or Christmas]?
Nani is still cooking the exact same things with the exact same old ingredients in the exact stone ovens that they would never use now because in Italy of course they'll have some beautiful new range modern thing and a microwave to heat up the spaghetti sauce. Whereas Grandma is making the gnocchi fresh from the potatoes, she's not buying it at the local Costco. The songs we listen to, the church we go to. And even from the way we greet each other, from the way that we hold each other and kiss each other and squeeze each other's butts, there's things that are just so very, so very warm.
Presenter asks
21:16What impact did that great big, bright, pulsing fame have on you when you got it?
Well, I think if you're not careful, it stunts your growth. I think that if it had happened at a younger age, I probably wouldn't be the same man that I am now. I was 26 years old. I still handled it very, I think, very poorly. You know, I regret a lot of decisions I made or the way that I treated different people in my life, or even treated myself.
Presenter asks
22:25Was there a time in your life when the wine, women and weed threatened your well-being, almost got the better of you?
Well, of you know, of I mean, of course. I don't think I've ever I don't share that with the public, you know who who wants to share their weaknesses with the public, you know. But, um … Yes, I mean, uh we all battle our own sort of demons and stuff and uh a lot changed the moment that I had kids. I mean, I I had no idea of the perspective that it would give me. It made making the right decisions a lot easier.
“I felt like such an outsider. I felt like I was so different from other people. How could I love jazz? How could I love the Great American Songbook when other people my age didn't seem to have the passion for it? And one day I realized when I broke it down musically … I realized that I'm not the crazy one. If you don't love it as much as I do, then maybe you're the crazy one.”
“I would take this song and I would tape it onto another cassette and I would loop it over and over and over again. I loved it so much. I was probably 11 years old, 10 years old.”
“I don't think in my lifetime I have ever told someone to do anything again. I think I have always made sure to say, Hey, you know, could you do me a favor? Would you mind going and blankety blankety?”
“I will fight for balance. And if one suffers, you know which one it will be. It won't be my kids. I just love them way too much.”
“I will take getting sick a million times over for those kisses. I need those kisses. Those are what f that's my fuel.”
“I'd be dead within moments. … I'd eat a shellfish that had red tide and I'd be finished.”