The coolest of the dramatic Italian balladeers to emerge in the fifties, Martino most closely identified with his background. Thus, it was fitting that he was chosen for the role of Johnny Fontane, the popular Italian singer (reputedly based on Frank Sinatra), in Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Godfather’. The son of Italian immigrants, Martino was a boyhood friend of Mario Lanza who encouraged him to become a singer. After appearing in local nightclubs, he recorded ‘Here in My Heart’ for the small BBS label in 1952. The record topped both the American and British charts and won Martino a contract with Capitol.

   His old fashioned style denied him further significant record success in America throughout the fifties, though he continued to chart in Britain with the songs ‘Now’, ‘Wanted’ and ‘The Man from Laramie'.                 
   His career was revived by a version of Leon Payne’s 1949 country hit, ‘I Love You Because’ and ‘I Love You More and More Every Day’. In 1965, he had his biggest hit, ‘Spanish Eyes’, when Eddie Snyder wrote an English lyric to a tune written and recorded by Bert Kaempfert as ‘Moon Over Naples’. A star attraction of the cabaret circuit after his role in ‘The Godfather’, he further consolidated his once more fashionable Italian image with ‘To the Door of the Sun (Alla Porte del Sol)’ and a remake of the song ‘Volare’.