Singer performs Sinatra his way

Steve Lippia performs with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra Saturday, March 13, in a tribute to Frank Sinatra.

Steve Lippia doesn't try to imitate Frank Sinatra, but when he performs his tribute to the Chairman of the Board, there are inescapable similarities.

"I'm an Italian guy, and I certainly borrow his phrasing and his approach to the notes," says Lippia, from his home in Las Vegas. "But it's my voice, and I don't try to sound like him. I don't watch videos or try to move like he did. That's for actors."

Lippia, who performs regularly in Las Vegas and has performed with big bands and symphonies around the country, is simply a singer of pop standards. He created a Sinatra tribute when he noticed how audiences responded when he performed Sinatra hits, but he's not a Sinatra fanatic.

Still, he can credit an appreciation for Sinatra for giving him his first break when Lippia performed in a high school variety show in Southington, Conn., in the mid-1970s.

"A friend dared me," says Lippia. "And I decided I would do something really different."

Lippia found his parents' copy of Frank Sinatra's 'Greatest Hits' album and loved the song "It Was a Very Good Year."

"It didn't make a lot of sense for a 16-year-old kid to be singing a song looking back on his life, especially since the first line of that song is 'When I was 17' and I wasn't even there yet!"

Lippia says he probably wasn't great, but he got a good mention in the local paper's coverage of the show. Emboldened, he took the review to a local big band leader and asked for an audition.

"I came in and there's a five-piece band there playing pieces off the top of their heads, and I really didn't have a repertoire, but I knew a few tunes."

In the following few years, Lippia and another younger member did all the hauling and setting up for the big band.

"Imagine me getting all dressed up leaving my parents' house at six or 6:30, setting it up, maybe getting to sing one or two songs, then shrinking back to my dark corner till the end of the show, tearing it all down, driving it back and then not getting home till two or three in the morning! For that I got 15 bucks, and I felt like I was taking him! I just loved listening to the band and getting the chance to sing with them. I couldn't believe he was paying me. When it went up to 25 bucks I thought it was ridiculous!"

Still, it wasn't exactly a living wage, and Lippia went to college and got a bachelor's degree in psychology. He was a stock broker for a while and later started a construction business and a financial services business.

In the mid-1990s, while living in Florida, Lippia decided to pursue his lifelong dream of making a living as a singer.

Within the span of three years, Lippia landed a regular spot with a local big band, graduated to a spot with the Woody Herman band, began getting gigs with symphonies around the country and finally ended up headlining in Vegas, where he fronted a 21-piece band led by Sinatra's former conductor Vincent Falcone Jr.

Lippia says he likes all kinds of music, but he's always championing older styles to young people.

"Musical minds get narrower and narrower all the time," he says. "If it's a year old they'll call it 'old school.' I tell audiences you have to make sure to introduce their kids to good music. Introduce them to standards, to Elvis, to good country and western music, to opera ... It's just like leaving a magazine out for someone to find and read. There's that moment of vulnerability, but it has to be accessible."

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444.

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!

© 2010 Knoxville.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.