While the sun set on Manhattan behind them, two Ol’ Blue Eyes impersonators wowed the audience – and the judges – at the third annual Frank Sinatra Idol Contest in Hoboken last Friday.
Sean Reilly, a headhunter from Wilmington, Del., won first place by performing “The Best is Yet to Come,” while Rory Aylward, an army reservist from Astoria, N.Y, took second after singing “I Won’t Dance.”
To win the title in the park dedicated to the music icon in his own hometown, said Reilly, was quite an experience.
“You can’t top it,” he said. Reilly added that when he told his dad about the Frank Sinatra trophy he had received, his father said that not even the legend himself has that. “That’s how cool that is.”
Reilly drove more than two hours to be in the contest, though he never expected to beat the other 12 contenders, he said. After all, Reilly only started singing Sinatra two years ago, while many other impersonators began practicing as children. But, he said, the music had been a part of his life since a very early age.
Falling asleep to Frank
“When I was an infant, my mother sang me and my three older siblings to sleep with Sinatra music,” said Reilly, more specifically, with “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”
As he got older, he played the records for himself, and by the time he was 10 years old, said Reilly, he was rummaging through the shelves at his local music shop for his own copies. When he finally got the keys to a 1974 Nova at 16, he said, “I had all my friends listen to Sinatra when we were driving around whether they liked it or not.”
Now, at 52, Reilly said he spends his mornings searching for quality employees for the companies who hire him and the rest of his day working on his music. He started doing gigs at wedding venues, country clubs, and restaurants after his talent was discovered while he portrayed Frank Sinatra in a small play about Judy Garland, and now, Reilly said, he would like to take his career to the next level.
“I’m no Michael Bublé, but I would certainly like to make a living doing this full-time,” he said.
The runner-up, Aylward, said he was happy to perform a song he says is not so familiar to most people; however, it is not his favorite Sinatra song. If he was forced to pick the one he likes the most, he said, it would be “The House I Live In.”
“It’s a song about America, and it probably should be the national anthem,” he said. “‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ is about the flag and a battle, but I think ‘The House I Live In’ is about what it means to be an American and what our country is about.”
His choice, however, said Aylward, doesn’t have much to do with his desire to serve his country since age 25.
“I certainly don’t consider myself a flag-waving guy,” he said, “but I think people lose sight of what the country is about and what it should be about.”
“Good music is good music. Sinatra will go on forever.” – Rory Aylward
________
“It’s a rare opportunity and dumb luck to be born in America,” said Aylward, “and I think you should be glad, and that’s my way of giving back.” He added that even while he is on active duty, he still finds a way to sing Sinatra or makes plans for more gigs when he gets back home.
As a teenager, he said, he got into the music, after two high school friends introduced it to him. Later on, said Aylward, he remembers playing Sinatra on a juke box while drinking with buddies, and now, his preference has not changed.
“Good music is good music,” said Aylward. “Sinatra will go on forever. A lot of this music, it’s a fad and fads disappear, but real music does not.”
Amanda Staab can be reached at astaab@hudsonreporter.com.