He was an American shoeshine boy with a romantic singing voice that made even mobsters weep.



Jimmy Roselli was known as “the other Sinatra”, but the Mob and Frank Sinatra, his lifelong rival crooner, killed off his chances of finding the fame that he deserved. Now, six years after his death, this unheralded singer is about to receive due recognition with a film in which he will be portrayed by John Travolta.

David Evanier, who is directly involved with the film as the author of Roselli’s authorised biography, confirmed the casting on Tuesday.

Titled Roselli, the film is being produced by Merchant Ivory, the company behind period classics such as The Remains of the Day and Howards End. Travolta, 63, the Oscar-nominated star of Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, is in line to play the lead. His actor wife, Kelly Preston – his co-star in The Experts – has been cast to play Roselli’s supportive wife, Donna.



Frank Sinatra, c1970. He and Roselli grew up a few houses apart in Hoboken, New Jersey. Photograph: AP

Neil Jesuele, director of development for Merchant Ivory Productions, said: “We’re very excited about this project. We’ve spent a long time getting it to the table. Travolta is making the movie. We literally received official word from his manager last week, but contracts haven’t been signed yet. Travolta grew up in New Jersey, like Roselli and Sinatra, where everybody listened to Roselli. Travolta’s been passionate about this singer for a long time… He will likely produce as well … He’s always had his eye on this project and now that Merchant Ivory’s involved, he’s certainly more than excited.”

Roselli’s tough real-life story is the stuff of Hollywood movies. His mother died two days after his birth in 1925 and his father, a prize-fighter, abandoned the family. He was brought up by his grandfather, a longshoreman. Young Jimmy earned money by taking a shoeshine-box to local bars and singing for change. Aged 13, he won a radio singing competition and went on to perform on the radio, in clubs, at the weddings of Mafia dons and at Carnegie Hall.

The film is about two Italian-American singers from Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra and Roselli, who, according to Merchant Ivory, had a “staggering vocal range”, and his “passion and authority outstripped his world-famous rival”.

Roselli was loved by Italian mobsters, like Carmine “the Snake” Persico and Carlo Gambino, who were said to have been reduced to tears by his performances. Evanier said: “He is the voice of the traditional Italian-American community. They loved him to death. So did the Mafia. Carlo Gambino was his biggest fan and even cooked for him.

“He had a love-hate relationship with the [Mafia] ‘wiseguys’. They cried when he sang. They would wet their cigars in the front rows. They also wept because they couldn’t control him.”

The mobsters’ wives and mothers particularly loved him, but he refused to kowtow to gangsters. He believed that Sinatra – who was prepared to play ball with the Mob – made sure that the music industry blackballed him for three decades until the early 1990s. His music was removed from juke boxes and was not played on radio stations.

Evanier said Roselli and Sinatra grew up five houses apart in Hoboken: “Sinatra was 10 years older and actually auditioned Roselli, who was a shoeshine boy. Sinatra came up to him and said he’s heard about him and brought him home and played the piano while Roselli sang. Apparently he was flabbergasted at his range. He actually had a bigger voice than Sinatra. I’m not saying he had a greater voice … He was a heartfelt singer.”

Roselli in a publicity shot, c1970. He turned down TV and film appearances because they would not pay what he thought he was worth. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

He added: “There was a particular conflict because all Sinatra’s close friends loved Roselli … Dolly [Sinatra’s mother] loved him and had him sing every year at a charity benefit. One year, she sent the ‘wiseguys’ to request that Roselli sing. Roselli resented this and demanded $50,000. He had always sung for free for her. This got back to Sinatra. It was an excuse for him to express his hostility for Roselli. That was the end of Roselli’s career.”

In the 1990s, Roselli returned to performing, earning up to $2m a year.

But Evanier described Roselli as his own worst enemy in promoting himself: “He ran away from fame.” He turned down the role of Peppino, the Neapolitan singer, in The Godfather Part II as well as appearances on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show because they would not pay what he thought he was worth. Evanier believes that Roselli had a self-destructive streak.



Evanier’s biography, titled Making the Wiseguys Weep: the Jimmy Roselli Story, was published in 1998 and Travolta had wanted to make a film about him ever since. Martin Scorsese wanted to cast Travolta as Roselli for a planned movie about Dean Martin. The veteran film-maker used a recording of Roselli’s Mala Femmina (Bad Woman) in Mean Streets, his crime film starring Robert De Niro.

Evanier said: “Roselli is so little known. He was a major performer. He never really got his due.”



The film-makers hope to use Roselli’s “magnificent” original recordings. The singer’s rendition of the classic Neapolitan song Mala Femmina was the only non-English language song to make the US charts when it was released in 1965. Other US hits included Anema E Core (Heart and Soul), Old Wedding Ring and There Must Be a Way.