![]() “I got up on stage and was about to say something, when a moth flew into my mouth,” Black says. In between songs, he ad-libs about his aging body - his prostate is a popular topic, as are former wives, his gambling, and a lonely sex life. Black is funny enough to do stand-up without singing. Frank came over to me and said, ‘So you’re the ‘Cara Mia’ guy? You better lower your key or you’re gonna lose your voice.’ When I tell people me and Sinatra were trying to kill each other, I say it wasn’t because of the script, it was over the nickname ‘The Voice.’ “īlack may not remember where he played in Easton in the 1960s, but he does remember playing Musikfest in 1994 - not because of the 20,000 he says attended the show, but because it was one of the few times someone in the audience had a funnier line than he did. “Then I did a TV movie with Frank Sinatra called ‘Contract on Cherry Street.’ It ended with me and Frank trying to kill each other. “You know, when I was 40, Frankie Valli told me to change my key or I’d loose my voice,” Black says. “As I get older it becomes more popular, because people are so blown away that an old guy like me can still hit those notes,” he says. So popular is the song with his fans, many of whom are Italian, that he frequently gets a standing ovation after singing just the first three words. While “This Magic Moment” has always been one of Black’s biggest hits, “Cara Mia” has become his signature song. Now Black performs under his stage name alone, while Jay and the Americans, under yet a third “Jay,” John “Jay” Reincke, still performs at various venues. The group split up in 1973, with Black continuing to perform as Jay and the Americans with a variety of musicians until 2006, when he sold the name to Sandy Deanne, a former band member. Gore, with a new band of her own, promises to regale us with “It’s My Party,” “She’s a Fool,” “You Don’t Own Me,” “That’s the Way Boys Are,” “Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows” and more recent material. Both still live in or near New York City - she in Manhattan, he on Long Island.īut their most important common denominator is music from the same era, a time when Ed Sullivan ruled TV variety shows and the British Invasion had just begun.īlack and his new band will perform most of his popular hits, including “Cara Mia,” “This Magic Moment,” “Come a Little bit Closer” and “Walkin’ in the Rain,” among many others. ![]() Both were born in Brooklyn, and both came from Jewish families - Black, born David Blatt, and Gore, born Lesley Sue Goldstein. Both were products of the groovy 1960s, so dig out those mood rings and go-go boots, because Lesley Gore and Jay Black (formerly of Jay and the Americans) are at the State Theatre in Easton tĪlthough they’ll be doing separate sets on a double bill and won’t perform together, they’ve got more in common than hip-huggers and miniskirts. She projected the archetype of female adolescent yearning he had “The Voice” that could make women swoon.
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