Al Martino; OBITUARY.

THE record books will always tell you that Al Martino was the first singer to top the British charts.

Here in my Heart claimed the number one position when the New Musical Express introduced its chart in November, 1952, and it remained there for nine weeks.

But he was no one-hit wonder, churning out chart topper after chart topper, as well as playing a memorable cameo role as Johnny Fontaine in the 1970s movie classic, The Godfather.

He also scored hits with Spanish Eyes and The Man From Laramie, and recorded tracks such as Can't Help Falling In Love and the Italian ballad Volare during his 50-year musical career.

At the time Martino topped the first UK "hit parade", the chart was compiled in a very different way to its modern equivalent.

Figures were compiled from just a handful of shops, mainly in London, compared to the nationwide network of stores used to compile more recent charts.

His nine-week run has rarely been beaten. Only six records have had a longer continuous run at the top, the most recent of which was Umbrella, by Rihanna, in 2007.

Martino had started off in his family construction business in Philadelphia laying bricks, and singing in clubs and bars in the evening.

He won a talent show which brought him a recording contract with Capitol records, where he was championed by the operatic tenor Mario Lanza, who was also a family friend.

Lanza had been offered Here in my Heart, but turned it down in favour of the unknown Martino. The rest, as the saying goes, is history.

His role in The Godfather as a singer using Mafia links to advance his career was widely believed to have been based on Frank Sinatra, although there have been suggestions that the actual model was Dean Martin, 10 years Martino's senior but possessed with a similar voice and at one point suggested, quite wrongly, to be Martino's brother.

Al Martino, singer; born, October 7, 1927, died, October 13, 2009