She simply couldn’t pass up the chance to play a woman who tries convincing a pregnant woman to keep her baby.

McCorvey, who famously had a change of heart regarding abortion following the landmark ruling, has a small but pivotal role in the upcoming feature “Doonby.”

“Doonby” stars John Schneider, Robert Davi, Jennifer O’Neill, Joe Estevez and Ernie Hudson in the tale of a drifter who arrives in a small Texas town and creates a stir when his past is slowly revealed. The film will have several sneak screenings on Feb. 10 and 17 in Texas, Mississippi and Tennessee before opening in late spring/early summer.

Now, the star of “Die Hard” and “License to Kill” is using his pipes for a very good cause.

Davi’s newest song, a re-imagined version of the Christmas classic song, “Mistletoe and Holly,” will soon be available via iTunes and Amazon.com. All the profits from the song, which goes on sale Dec. 13 for $.99, will go to help The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign. The annual drive provides emergency assistance to millions of families in need around the holiday.

“Music has always been a big part of The Salvation Army, especially at Christmas, so partnering with a singer like Robert Davi is a great and natural fit,” said Major George Hood, national community relations and development secretary for The Salvation Army.

Donations will help raise money for the distribution of food, toys, coats, rental and utility assistance, and many other social services provided by The Salvation Army during the Christmas season and throughout the remainder of the year.

Davi can sing, period. And he shows off his pipes in the new CD “Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance.” The album is already getting raves from music critics. Now, Davi is sharing his songs and memories of Ol’ Blue Eyes on SiriusXM.

Davi recorded a program for the satellite radio network called “Playing Favorites with Robert Davi,” set for rebroadcast at 9 p.m. EST tonight, as well as 9 a.m. EST Thursday (Nov. 17) and 3 p.m. EST Saturday (Nov. 19).

Here’s the skinny on the hour-long program:

Robert Davi grew up listening to our music. His dream has been to sing it. Now, he’s finally released an album Davi Sings Sinatra, and it’s getting acclaim all across America. We asked Robert to stop in and play tracks from his album as well as pick an hour of music he loves best. No surprise, most of it is by Frank, whom he loves so dearly.

The same holds true for singing, says actor turned singer Robert Davi.

“I was either cursed or blessed with a blending of the masculine and feminine… it gives you a certain kind of interpretive swagger that you get over the years,” says Davi, whose recording debut, ‘Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance,’ pays homage to the performing legend. “To sing these songs, you gotta live.”

And Davi has done just that for decades, forging a respected acting career in films like ‘Die Hard,’ ‘The Goonies,’ and ‘License to Kill’ while his considerable singing chops waited for the right time to be embraced.

‘Davi Sings Sinatra,’ produced by the legendary Phil Ramone and mixed by engineer Al Schmitt, marks just such an occasion. The album’s 12 tracks, including Sinatra staples like ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ and ‘Summer Wind,’ reveal Davi as a serious musician with a voice well suited for Sinatra’s romantic ballads. Even critics who might otherwise carp on an actor attempting a musical career are singing the album’s praises.

The actor isn’t simply attempting a career change. He studied music long before becoming one of Hollywood’s more respected performers.

Davi always envisioned himself forging a dual career like his idol, New Jersey’s own Francis Albert Sinatra. Davi studied opera as a young man, but his acting career took off first, eventually landing him parts in blockbuster feature films, working with the likes of Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood and Marlon Brando.

But the urge to sing never really went away.

Enter ‘The Dukes,’ Davi’s 2007 labor of love which he co-wrote, directed and starred as a former doo-wop singer struggling to make ends meet. The film proved he could make a movie, but it also reignited his passion for singing.

“I knew I’d come back into it,” he says. “Everything is aligning — my own development as a human being, an actor and an artist. I need to communicate through song. Before, there may have been some fear holding me back.”

He sees ‘Davi Sings Sinatra’ as more than just a musical tribute. Davi may excel at being a tough guy on screen, but his debut disc reveals a more vulnerable side. The 12 songs touch on the depths of love, from “settling into it to starting to fall out of love and the despair” that follows. And, of course, the eventual re-awakening of the next romance, he says.

And the love in question isn’t necessarily for a woman, he says.

“We have to re-ignite that love of America … the hope and optimism immigrants came to America for,” he says, the kind Sinatra stoked during the tumultuous years around World War II.

Today’s music often targets specific demographics, while chapters from the Great American Songbook brought people of all ages together. Davi is seeing that for himself with his initial forays into live performing.

“I’m getting kids [in the crowd], people from 10 to 80,” he says, adding patrons from different countries are also dropping by to see his live act. “This music translates all over the place.”

Davi isn’t giving up on his other career. He recently wrapped shooting on ‘The Chameleon,’ a comedy co-starring Stacy Keach. And he just inked a deal to write and star in ‘The Voice,’ a film centering, in part, on a Sinatra fanatic.

Davi’s Sinatra connection isn’t simply that of an unabashed fan. Sinatra personally selected him to play Mickey Sinardos in the 1977 NBC television drama ‘Contract on Cherry Street.’

“There are a million things you’d like to sit down and talk to him about, but at that point in my life I was a pretty shy kid. I didn’t want to invade,” he says of his time on the set with Sinatra. So the young actor observed his idol up close. He saw a man who trained with the best coaches possible, not relying solely on his musical gifts. And he marveled at the fact that Sinatra possessed a massive trove of classical music. In conversation, it’s immediately clear Davi possesses an encyclopedia of knowledge on all things Sinatra.

Davi isn’t one to mock today’s music no matter how much enthusiasm he shares for the Sinatra songbook of yore. But he’s keenly aware that the disposable pop ditties of today are no match, in the long term, for the songs Sinatra cradled in his inimitable voice.

“A great piece of music is something that lasts,” he says.

Don Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and William Shatner are just a few big name stars stung by reporters for daring to add the word “singer” to their résumés. But music critics are lining up to sing the praises of actor Robert Davi’s new disc, ‘Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance.’

The actor, whose impressive career includes roles in ‘Die Hard,’ ‘Goonies,’ and ‘License to Kill,’ started out as a trained singer before Hollywood came calling. Now, he’s reclaimed his musical legacy, and several major publications like USA Today appear glad he did. Here’s another rave, the kind that must make the Sinatra fan in Davi light up:

“Listening to it, you just know Sinatra would have smiled, given Davi a light tap on the cheek, and said, ‘Nice job, kid.’”

JazzTimes.com fell for Davi’s decision to find inspiration from Sinatra without resorting to an unwise imitation:

“The results are, indeed, uniformly impressive. A solid swinger and equally capable balladeer …”

Bill Miller of National Radio Syndicators called the new album a “winner.”

“This guy has the chops that translate into great listening.”

Davi’s way with a melody isn’t restricted to recorded music. Consider this review of a recent live appearance covering material from the just-released album:

By the time he’d finished his second number – “Nice ‘n’ Easy” – and was swinging smoothly through “At Long Last Love,” it was apparent that he was clearly in touch with the content, the details and the spirit of Sinatra’s way with a song.

Davi’s acting gigs often play up his intimidating side, but it’s the way he cradles Sinatra songbook that’s wooing otherwise skeptical scribes.

After all, the respected character actor turned crooner’s politics don’t exactly align with those of the Commander in Chief. But Davi still has a few practical thoughts he’d love to share with the president. He recently spoke with The Creative Coalition’s Robin Bronk on what he’d say to Obama if given the chance:

ROBIN BRONK: If you had five minutes in the Oval Office with President Obama, what would you discuss with him? What issue would you like him to know about?

ROBERT DAVI: I would like to talk with him about the crisis in American education. To help children reach their full intellectual potential, an education must include American values, civics and history. Our students must have an exceptional education that inspires them and builds upon our country’s greatness, instead of a relativistic, socialistic worldview that wants to erase what our country stands for and has accomplished. There has been a systematic approach to undermine the “Greatness of America” — a pervasive hipness in denigrating our country that flatters itself as being intellectually provocative. And, while I know he distanced himself from the Rev. Wright’s comments, I would like to discuss with the president why the comment “God damn America” offended the vast majority of Americans. Specifically, because America is an ideal — a living dream that has been a beacon of hope for the world. Yes, at times, the men and women who make political decisions may be misguided and cause some to want to damn them. But if we erased America from world history, one must unequivocally agree the world would be a lesser place. Therefore, I say, “God BLESS America!”

Davi hopes his upcoming album, ‘Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance,’ extends his patriotic philosophy. The disk, due to drop Oct. 24, finds Davi cradling the Great American Songbook in a way meant to flatter both it and the man who made its songs iconic – Francis Albert Sinatra.

Unfortunately, they chose to fight for the other side.

If our history is written by honest brokers, this generation of Hollywoodists will be remembered as those who openly enabled evil and spent hundreds of millions of dollars making bombs for the enemy — box office bombs. Over a dozen of them, specifically engineered with equal parts lies and hate and propaganda to undermine morale at home and on the battlefield in the hopes that we would lose this war.

Never forget the crime committed in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on that terrible day.  And never forget  how Hollywood turned on your country.

There were some exceptions, however, and chief among them was Joel Surnow, the co-creator of “24.” Each week, for eight seasons, he gave this country a hero who openly loved America, did what was necessary to protect her, and who was willing to pay a terrible price for it. ”24″ also delivered the goods. Cathartic, exciting and righteous without being self-righteous, the addictive adventures of Jack Bauer became an oasis in a cesspool of Hollywood product delivering the exact opposite message.

As the face of the program, Surnow paid a price for his apostasy and because he’s a smart man who knows how the world works, my guess is that he knew that someday he would. We all watched as some of the biggest forces in the world of entertainment and politics ganged up to exact their revenge with “The Kennedys.” Don’t believe for a second that wasn’t a form of payback.

For whatever it’s worth, we thank you, Joel Surnow.  You can’t imagine what it meant to millions of us  to have something to count on over those weeks and years — something that told us we weren’t crazy and we weren’t alone.

And thank you to the subversives who used their art and magnificent artistry to take our side through thinly veiled allegory. Thank you Frank Miller and Zack Snyder for “300.” Thank you Christopher Nolan for “The Dark Knight.”

There were others. Men like Gary Sinise who tirelessly support the troops and David Zucker who took the fight directly to that anti-American pig Michael Moore. There is also Robert Davi, Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Moriarty and those like them who have bravely and eloquently spoken out against the talking points issued by their Hollywood Overlords.

For fear of missing one, I won’t attempt to name everyone in Hollywood who did the right thing, who openly supported our military and refused to participate in the resume-enhancing undermining of our country. Within the context of the whole of the entertainment business, however, they make up a heartbreakingly short list. But you know who are and we know who you are and we thank you.

The rest of you can burn in Hell.

On October 24, our friend Robert Davi (“a singer who can act”) releases “Davi Sings Sinatra.” I’ve known Robert for a few years now and his affection and respect for Frank Sinatra was apparent the first time we met. As fate would have it, Davi co-starred with Sinatra in his first film, ”Contract On Cherry Street, ” and the impact The Voice had on him hasn’t dimmed a bit over the years. Earlier this year, Robert toured — to great critical acclaim – with his Great American Songbook and ever since he’s been in the recording studio putting together this tribute.

For those of you who don’t know, Robert is a trained opera singer. He has a  stunning voice and has picked some of the greatest songs ever  for this, his debut album.

We’ll obviously have much more on this in the coming weeks, but in the meantime here’s more information from the just-received press release:

The project came together under the guidance of Disney Music Group Chairman Bob Cavallo and was produced by the legendary 14 time GRAMMYÒ Award winning and 33 time GRAMMYÒ nominated producer Phil Ramone. Recorded with a thirty piece orchestra at the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where Sinatra recorded many of his albums, Davi Sings Sinatra has all new arrangements by Nic Tenbroeck and was engineered by Dan Wallin. It was mixed by the incomparable Al Schmitt, who has 18 GRAMMYS and more that 150 gold and platinum selling albums to his credit. States Schmitt: “Robert sounds like he’s been singing these songs all his life.  His phrasing and uniquely beautiful baritone voice blend perfectly with the arrangements and the result is what great music is all about.” …

Backed by a 50-piece orchestra, Davi has been performing Davi Sings Sinatra to sold-out audiences and high critical acclaim in New York and Los Angeles.  Forthcoming live performances include Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  For further information go to www.DaviSingsSinatra.com.

And here’s an interview Davi did while on tour, which includes samples of the music:

Even if his name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, you’ll most likely recognize actor Robert Davi as the villain Franz Sanchez from James Bond’s License to Kill or as bad guy from the 80s cult classic The Goonies. But Davi has put his villainous film past behind him to focus on his musical career most fans were unaware of.

In fact, Davi is a classically trained opera singer and has a tremendous voice that he’ll be dedicating to Frank Sinatra standards this weekend for his Davi Sings Sinatra tribute show. Just one listen to Davi’s sonorous baritone will have you thinking Old Blue Eyes was singing himself, and luckily you can listen to Davi’s take on Sinatra hits from his cover album right here.

As a young boy, Robert Davi got his start in music as a trained opera singer only to switch focus on his cinema career. His first ever film he starred in was opposite Frank Sinatra himself in the 1977 film Contract on Cherry Street, which only resurged his love of Sinatra music.

Now switching gears back to music, Davi is on a mission to bring back the huge popularity of the Great American Songbook and Sinatra classics to this generation with the help of his critically acclaimed tribute show, Davi Sings Sinatra. …

The classic standards that make up the Great American Songbook paved the way for generations to come and to this day stand the test of time.  “That period of music I think was the Shakespeare of America…and it brought us all together. Sinatra was the greatest interpreter of that,” said Davi.

1. Day in Day Out
2. Nice ‘n Easy
3. All The Way
4. I’ve Got the World On A String
5. Witchcraft
6. In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning
7. Nice Work If You Can Get It
8. Summer Wind
9. Rainy Day
10. The Best Is Yet To Come
11. Mam’selle
12. Too Marvelous For Words

Much to anticipate.

A subplot in an upcoming film,a psychological thriller called Doonby, involves an unmarried woman during the 1960s who seeks a doctor to end her inconvenient pregnancy — and an elderly woman who tries to talk her out of it.

The role of the older woman is pivotal, and director Peter Mackenzie wanted to cast someone with the gravitas to deliver anti-abortion dialogue without being preachy. So last year, over lunch at a restaurant in tiny Smithville, Texas, he persuaded one of the most controversial living Americans to play the role, despite the fact she had never acted before. Her name: Norma McCorvey — aka Jane Roe, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade.

“I thought she encapsulated American thinking on the issue,” says Mackenzie, a British filmmaker who also wrote Doonby. The niche title tackles abortion head-on, taking place in modern times but with significant flashbacks to an era when illegal abortions were conducted in back alleys. The filmmakers know they’ve created something controversial but maintain it is apolitical — a position that will be a tough sell beyond pro-life circles.

But plenty of small movies have turned a profit by wooing narrow demographics. The Kids Are All Right, with its appeal to gays and lesbians, was made for $4 million and earned $21 million at the domestic box office; Facing the Giants targeted Christians and earned $10 million on a $100,000 budget; and Sideways appealed first to wine aficionados and took in $72 million on a $16 million budget. Political films can be less forgiving, though. An American Carol was a money-loser, for example, and the jury is still out on Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, both of which chased right-wingers.

Doonby – planned for September release, though no distributor is attached — stars John Schneider as a drifter and Robert Davi and Joe Estevez[.]

Much more here.

Watch the trailer, as introduced by star Robert Davi, here. Website is here.

As a veteran of the film industry for more than 30 years, Robert Davi has become one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable faces and voices of American cinema.  So if you haven’t heard him sing, you’ll probably be as surprised as I was to find that Mr. Davi is not quite so gravelly when he picks up a tune.  In fact, he’s an effortless crooner, classically trained and ready for the stage.

In 2010, he performed three sold-out concerts in New York, solo performances wherein he covered the works of Frank Sinatra.  Sinatra, and the works of the early 20th Century known as the “Great American Songbook,” are more than just a passing interest to Davi.  He feels that these are an essential piece of American history and culture that deserve a closer look in order to understand who we are.

Hearing a few snippets of his upcoming album of Sinatra covers, I truly marveled at the rich quality he was able to belt out of  these songs, exuding classy charm, freewheeling fun, and timeless romance.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.  Ervin Drake, one of the only surviving contributors to the Great American Songbook (among his other accomplishments, he wrote the Sinatra hit “It Was a Very Good Year”), attended Davi’s opening night in New York.  Aside from seeing the show again on closing night, Drake’s compliments included this personal message to Davi:

Robert Davi would make a worthy successor to the incomparable Frank Sinatra, whether in the fields of Stage, Screen or Television. And having been chosen years ago by the Master himself, to act in a film side by side with him, this is not a vain pronouncement.

Continuing his pursuits, Davi is wrapping up work on his album with famed producer Phil Ramone, who has worked with Sinatra himself, and on January 15th, Davi is performing a concert with expanded orchestral arrangements entitled “Davi Sings Sinatra: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra, the Great American Songbook, and America,” at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center in Los Angeles.

Despite his rigorous rehearsal schedule, Mr. Davi was able to take some time to answer a few questions about the upcoming show.

Big Hollywood:  What about the world of musical performance appeals to you compared to the acting world?

Robert Davi:  In music, I’m able to express much more of myself.  While it’s fun doing films and playing different characters, one is limited by the part you are playing.  With singing, each song is like a 3-act play, and you use much more of yourself.  I think it was Schopenhauer who said, “The effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than the other arts, for these others speak only of the shadow, but music of the essence.”

BH:  As you mentioned being limited in acting by the characters you play, have there been times in your career when you have felt typecast and frustrated by that?

RD:  Of course, and it is the nature of the beast.  When I did my first film at age 20 (which, ironically, starred Frank Sinatra), I was cast as a gangster.  From that, nobody gets the impression that I was classically trained, nobody thinks about the depth you may have as a person.  They see a film and judge you by it, and if you’re good at convincing them, that’s who they think you are.

I remember Stella Adler, one of my mentors, telling me, “They will typecast you, but always know who you are and fight against it ” I did that in my own way by trying not to repeat myself, taking on different parts.  Now, this has its own drawbacks, because people then may have difficulty identifying you.  They only know one or two particular things you may have done, but if they looked at the whole body of your work, that’s where a clearer picture emerges of who that performer is.  Perhaps I came out West a little early; had I stayed in New York and done more plays, I would have built up a different perception of myself, though the way I look tended to put me in a certain light regardless. Everyone has their own prejudices, and because I had a rugged complexion I was immediately profiled during casting. There have been fans over the years that didn’t just see me as a bad guy, and I proved them right when I did a TV series called The Profiler.  Being accepted as a leading man on network television– that show had a huge fan base, and I was voted 3 years in a row on the Internet as their favorite leading man by over 500,000 women– that sort of vindicated me.

BH:  By taking on the roles of singer and film director, do you feel a sense of greater control over your public persona?

RD:  Of course; it brings to mind the saying, “You cannot judge a book by its cover.”  By directing and now singing, it lets me open that book up to everyone and express much more of who I am.

BH:  What sets apart the music of Sinatra’s day, and specifically the man’s own work, from the music of today? What difference do you notice in the values expressed by it?

RD:  To me, The Great American Songbook is the Shakespeare of America.  Those beautiful lyrics are like sonnets put to music, like heartbreaking monologues from tremendous characters. These composers and lyricists were giants, and they were able, through poetry and music, to capture the essence of the human heart and soul.  Whether it was an upbeat swing or a heartbreaking ballad or even a saloon song, each one had a universal appeal, and I believe that made the world fall in love with America.

Frank Sinatra is the premiere interpreter of these songs.  Don’t get me wrong; there are many others who do it justice and are terrific– for instance, we are still lucky to have Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Barbra Streisand, my friend Frank Sinatra Jr. who stays true to the tradition, as well as other great singers– but for me, Sinatra and his body of work is absolutely staggering.  He applied the bel canto principles of singing to popular music, and the depth of his sound is unparalleled.  He was the first “method singer,” so to speak.  He embodied a song with a total sense of self.  He started with his tremendous influences, and he took from them and worked tirelessly to come up with his sound.

The values expressed in the music was much more romantic than what we hear today.  These songs seduced with their eloquence; they were not crass.  They were designed to lift the human spirit, not denigrate it. I think a great resurgence of this music is about to happen.  The youth of today must be exposed to it, because when they are, they fall in love with it.  It’s something that should be taught in schools.  A course on Sinatra would be fascinating.

BH:  How did you first connect with Phil Ramone?  Which one of you initiated the collaboration that resulted in your upcoming album?

RD: Phil was at Capitol finishing an album he was working on.  I was also at Capitol Records at the time and was introduced to him by Paula Salvatore, who runs the label.  She told Phil what I was doing and she made the initial introduction.  Phil is someone I had always wanted to meet and work with.  He is a legend.  I am so grateful for how things have turned out; he is brilliant– has an amazing spirit and is a very deep and lovely human being. And I hope for a very long collaboration with him.  We had another legend, Al Schmitt, do the mix, and the great Dan Wallin was our engineer.

BH:  How did you feel going to rehearsals knowing that a full 30-piece orchestra was there exclusively for you?

RD:  That was actually for my first shows in New York and also for the recording sessions we did at Capitol.  It was absolutely mind-boggling and excitingly terrifying.  For the show in Thousand Oaks on January 15th, we will have 50 pieces.  I had the composer Nic Tenbroek make all new arrangements for the expanded orchestra (Nic was also the composer for my film The Dukes).

BH:  Which songs of Sinatra’s do you feel you perform with a noticeably different interpretation or tone?  If you’ve seen him live in concert, how did that experience affect the planning that went into your own concert?

RD:  I put my own mark on all the songs, as I am not doing an impression of Sinatra in any way.  But I am staying true to the principals of great singing that he is the benchmark for.  That is one of the reasons I refer to it as the Shakespeare of America. Seeing Sinatra live was an amazing experience.  What he was able to communicate through song directly to the audiences’ hearts was so exquisitely moving. It was transcendent; you were watching and listening to the greatest interpreter of music ever.  He performed for 6 decades, and looking over that entire time, it is impossible not to be affected by his work. He would continually put nuance and new interpretations to songs he had done as a young man throughout his life.  He would bring all that he lived through to each performance.

One of the things Phil Ramone told me was when he brought the idea for Duets to Sinatra, and Frank asked why should he do the album– he had sung these songs for years and years– and Phil said,  “But you are  singing them differently now, and people deserve to hear how you interpret them today.”  It’s like seeing Al Pacino in a play he had done years ago, and you see him do it with all that he’s since gone through.  Or, if you saw Clint Eastwood bring all his history to a part such as Walt in Gran Torino– it’s a fascinating journey that the artist takes over time.

BH:  What kinds of reactions have you received from friends, peers, and fans who have never seen this side of you as a performer?

RD:  They are mostly surprised and say, “Why haven’t you done this sooner?”   I only wish I could go back in time and tutor with the jazz and big band greats that Sinatra was able to work with, to learn and grow from them.  I fear this music is becoming a lost art form, and we as a society must not let this happen. We must give it a risorgimento.

BH:  Finally, if this venture is successful, will we no longer see Robert Davi on the screen but on the stage? Or will there be more projects, like The Dukes, that will integrate your two passions?

RD:  I will continue to act in film but will now make singing a major part of my career, while at the same time passionately pursuing my musical skills.  I work daily with Maestro Catona and his brilliant vocal technique; it is what I had been searching for for years. And yes, I will integrate the two.  I have written a new script that explores this era of music in a touching and exciting way, and I hope to film it later next year.

For those who live in Los Angeles (or are planning to travel), you can purchase tickets for the show by emailing boxoffice@toaks.org or calling (805) 449-2787, or from Ticketmaster online or by calling (800) 745-3000.  More information can be found at DaviSingsSinatra.com.

Davi’s peers have given considerable praise, such as esteemed vocal trainer Gary Catona:

“Unlike other singers who are doing the American songbook, Robert truly has ‘the voice,’ a rich, masculine tone and beauty, with a sensitive, artistic heart to match. In this sense, he resembles Sinatra, but does not sound like him. His uniquely colorful baritone voice has a flair for the dramatic that he expresses thoughtfully in his interpretation. All in all, Robert Davi could easily wrestle the Sinatra mantle away from all would-be contenders.”

Also, Shelly Berg, Dean of the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, lauded Davi’s multi-generational appeal:

“Everyone knew Robert Davi would be great as Lucky Luciano in the new, Phil Ramone-produced musical Lanza, but what blew the crowd away was Robert singing Sinatra as the encore! In a performance for 600 college students, they leapt to their feet and screamed with delight. The same result was achieved the next night with the ‘adult’ audience. Very few people can sing Sinatra with the voice, authority and phrasing of Robert Davi.”