I was possessed with a wonderful example of my Italian American family. They would come over and join us every Sunday, all my aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces, and I would sing for them.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
They would wake me up when I was sleeping, and say sing a song for our friends. I had a sweet voice, I had a nice little tenor voice. God knows what I sang, but my whole family would admire me.
My whole family could sing. My family harmonized without any instruments to accompany them.
I carry the voices of all my family within me, and they were with me there in the jungle.
My family was very musical. My brother is an opera singer; my parents both sang.
Everyone in my family sang, and we would always sing these songs.
We were raised in an Italian-American household, although we didn't speak Italian in the house. We were very proud of being Italian, and had Italian music, ate Italian food.
I had unusual parents. We'd been to Europe. We'd been in the theater. We were sort of like the Addams Family.
My mother - the Irish side of the family - was very musical. My mother was a singer; there was music around the house all the time.
So I would dance and she would sing, and it was kind of a family thing. Performing was part of our world.
My mother came from an Irish family of 11 kids and, of course, had a sister who was a nun, so I spent time at a convent and with an aunt and uncle who lived in New York and took me to the theater.