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TREMONTI SINGS SINATRA [DIGITAL]

TREMONTI FAMILY CHARITY GOLF OUTING

Benefiting the National Down Syndrome Society.

Mark Tremonti has come together with surviving members of Frank's orchestra, creating new takes on some of the classics and some deeper cuts from Frank's catalog. Mark has gifted this album to the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS), 100% of the album’s proceeds will go to NDSS to help people with developmental disabilities.

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Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra

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NEW MUSIC: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

BEHIND THE PROJECT

FLY ME TO THE MOON (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

PROJECT QUOTES

“Mark did a fantastic job on this record, His voice and take on the tunes are amazing!” 

- Hank Cattaneo (Frank Sinatra - Duets Producer)

“Mark's take on Sinatra is nothing short of uncanny. I could never have expected one of my fav metal guitarists to do such faithful renditions of Sinatra classics. Not only instrumentally, but vocally! & these recordings are for a cause near & dear to my heart; I was very close to an uncle who had Down Syndrome when I was growing up. I fully appreciate & support Mark's commitment to NDSS.“ - SLASH

Wow! I am absolutely blown away by Mark’s performance on this album!! He delivers the songs authentically, embodying all that is Frank but giving us a glimpse of his own personality as well. I love the arrangements and the fact that some of Frank’s original band members contributed to these tracks. Honestly, I’ve known Mark for a long time and know he is super talented but had no idea he was capable of channeling Ol' Blue Eyes like that! Just absolutely beautifully done and what makes everything even that much more touching is the cause. I bet Mark’s daughter Stella was in his heart during every step of the recording processes. Incredible!

- John Petrucci

Holy Shit, I knew Mark was a ripping guitar player but no way did I ever have a notion that he had golden pipes as well!!! Totally blown away, totally into it, let's hear more Mark!!!” - Kirk Hammett

“This is awesome on so many levels. A crazy good performance and a heartfelt cause. Kudos Mark!”

- Paul Stanley

“Once again Mark Tremonti never ceases to amaze me. These renditions of some of the most beloved Sinatra tunes, are so eloquently done that it is remarkable. And what a beautiful gift to the NDSS. Much love, respect, and success to this incredible project”. 

- Brent Smith (Shinedown)

“When Mark first played me a track from this project my jaw dropped. Gave me chills! This is a side of Marks voice that people need to hear and I’m certain they will be just as blown away as I was. “ 

- Chris Daughtry 

"I think it's like bar none the best Frank Sinatra cover I've ever heard." - Carson Daly

“Okay this is so frickin good! I had a smile on my face when I heard Mark's voice come in on “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”. The production is fantastic and I love that he has gifted the album to the NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society). Not surprised that he’s killed it on this one, congrats Mark this is amazing!” - Tyler Connolly

“I met Mark around 10 years ago. First thing that struck me was his easy going, down to earth, respectful nature. That to me is a priority, and a true measure of one's make up. Mark’s talent precedes him, I’ve listened to him since the 90’s ‘til present day. It wasn’t until I listened to Mark’s solo albums that I was able to fully realize his vocal abilities. What a great voice!!! A beautiful and unique sound, alongside perfect delivery, dynamics and feel. When asked for my take on Mark’s Sinatra Project, I really didn’t know what to expect. I went into this from the perspective of what I’ve heard. I was asked to listen to 2 tracks. I listened to the whole damn thing!!! I was completely blown away. He sounds just like Frank, with just enough of his own vocal characteristics to infuse just the right amount of himself while honoring Frank’s musicality. Mark did absolute justice to the number 1 iconic, legendary crooner of all time. A stellar job, nailing the inflections, nuances and all the subtleties in Frank’s delivery that made him unparalleled. Bravo Mark. An admirable endeavor and cause for NDSS. All the best Mark, Vicky and lovely Stella.”  – James LaBrie "Mark is an old friend of mine which goes back to him being a young aspiring musician coming to see me play in clubs in the 90's. Cut to years later, millions of his records sold, success hasn't done anything but make him even more humble and gracious. I love Sinatra and I love this cause for Down Syndrome kids. It's just beautiful all the way around."

- Butch Walker

“Imagine my surprise when finding that one of the great riffmaters of the world in Mark Tremonti posses the pipes to pull off Sinatra! And for such a good cause to boot.

As a person with a special needs brother the cause that Mark and his family are behind is something near and dear to my heart. So I can only encourage others to support this wonderful music endeavor.”

- Billy Corgan

“Mark Tremonti, with his beautifully sung Sinatra album, “Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra,” in my opinion has broken many musical industry codes. As I see it they are: • This caliber of musicianship does not usually transfer from metal to orchestral jazz vocals.

• Heavy guitarists who sing (but are not known for it) just don’t come out of nowhere singing as well as “the all-time best.” 

• An orchestra-based album in this 2022 time frame does not go to #1.

• In our times, tracks are usually found of the original singer and/or the original orchestra for an album release- this is not the case here.

• Has anyone heard Myles Kennedy sing “Hallelujah”? It will make the hairs on your arms stand up. Now, Alter Bridge has two singers of this super high caliber- never happened to a heavy band to my knowledge and both are great guitarists.

• A heavy guitarist singing pop jazz in a suit and tie with no guitar? Never seen it.

• #1 record for charity that’s not driven by the charity (like Live Aid).

  Congratulations Mark! It is an honor to know you.” - Paul Reed Smith

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NEW PROJECT: MARK TREMONTI SINGS FRANK SINATRA - STORY

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Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra – Featuring Frank Sinatra’s Orchestra

Fri, july 14, 2023 @ 8:00 pm.

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THE WHOLE STORY! The lights go down. Familiar horns pipe up from a world-class orchestra as piano twinkles like the jackpot lights on a winning slot machine. Then, the voice kicks in. It has all of the smoky splendor those first few notes hinted at, but it ain’t Ol’ Blue Eyes. In a tailored suit with microphone in hand, it’s Mark Tremonti. The GRAMMY® Award-winning multiplatinum musician sounds just as at home paying homage to the catalog of Frank Sinatra as he does fronting Tremonti or shredding his soul out as the guitarist for Alter Bridge and Creed. Moreover, he’s doing it for a reason that’d make the Chairman of the Board proud. Accompanied by surviving members of Sinatra’s band as well as various top-notch players, Tremonti cut 14 classics for Tremonti Sings Sinatra , which he gifted to the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) as part of his new organization Take A Chance For Charity. 100% of the album’s proceeds will go to NDSS and their work with people with developmental disabilities.

It’s Tremonti like you’ve never heard him on perhaps the most important record of his career thus far…

“I’ve always loved singing Frank Sinatra songs,” he reveals. “One night, I found an old video of him performing ‘The Song Is You’ from 1944. It took my love for Frank Sinatra and his music to a whole new level. It made me study how he got his start. I read all of the books, and I watched all of the movies. I wanted to do something with it. I spent countless hours singing his songs and studying the technique and I started feeling really good about my progress. That led to me trying to figure out what else I could do with this knowledge. This was so different from anything I had ever done before, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it. When we found out about our daughter Stella’s Down Syndrome diagnosis, the stars aligned. My obsession with Sinatra had its reason. He raised more than a billion dollars for charity. Beneath the cool and calm persona, there was a big heart. Doing this charity in his name felt like it was meant to be. I decided to do this record to raise funds for families and individuals with Down Syndrome. Now, I have a new purpose for the rest of my life.”

Tremonti’s earliest memory of hearing Sinatra for the first time was as a child during Christmas. He continues to sing those tunes to this day. Though he initially felt some nerves about tackling Sinatra’s catalog, he had to do it for Stella. The Tremonti family found about her diagnosis and did everything they could, attending support groups, participating in charitable activities, reading voraciously about Down Syndrome, and devoting themselves to her completely. However, the toughest challenges were ahead. The doctors had initially noticed holes in Stella’s heart prior to her birth. Eventually, she needed open heart surgery at barely eleven-months-old.

“The waiting between the appointment and the surgery was the worst time in my life without exaggeration,” he sighs. “It was the saddest thing. There’s nothing like holding your little girl, feeling all of the sweetness and pure love that she is and knowing you have to prepare her for open heart surgery. They had to bypass her heart, put her on a respirator, and she was out for a day-and-a-half. When she came back around, it became the best week of my life. A week later, she had no idea she had surgery. She’s all smiles. This is just one part of it. I want to work with other families through this and raise money for everything they need.”

The project held a much greater gravity than anything else Tremonti had ever done. He pitched his manager Tim Tournier who was all-in. In what he calls “another stars aligning moment , ” Tournier actually took lessons from Sinatra guitarist Dan McIntyre [Sinatra Jr., Della Reese, Vic Damon]. McIntyre linked Tremonti and Tournier with Sinatra’s own band leader Mike Smith [Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr.]. They proved Tremonti’s commitment and vocal chops.

Tournier adds, “ Mark was so passionate about his desire to combine his love for Frank Sinatra and to do something for Stella, I was immediately invested in this idea. Having known Dan McIntyre for most of my life, I knew the two would connect . Dan was the one who sent me on my musical path and connecting my mentor with my longtime friend is one of the most-gratifying things of my career. ”

Sold on Tremonti’s voice, they were granted rare approval from The Frank Sinatra Estate to move forward. And they moved forward in style. Tremonti bought a tailored suit and hopped a plane to Chicago for three sessions in 2021 led by Smith and McIntyre. They would be joined by a cohort of A-list musicians whose credits span everyone from Sinatra (of course) , Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, and Barry Manilow to Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, and Buddy Rich.

On his first trip to the Windy City, Tremonti dug in by recording “Luck Be A Lady” and “That’s Life,” while Smith conjured the spirit of “The Voice . ”

“Mike handed me Frank’s actual vocal chart with his name on top of it,” recalls Tremonti. “I tried to give it back, and Mike said, ‘I want you to have this to get that mojo . ’ He gave me the exact tea Frank drank before he sang with the right amount of lemon. I kept the packet in my Sinatra notebook. It was unbelievable to be working with the guys who were actually on stage with him.”

He introduces Tremonti Sings Sinatra with the opener and first single “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” As the horn section swoons, Tremonti’s own light baritone reflects the tune’s spirited ebb and flow as the instantly recognizable big band solo takes flight.

“When I was listening to ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ again, the moment where he comes out of the bridge section gave me chills,” he smiles. “It’s one of Nelson Riddle’s best arrangements. That song was another big turning point in Frank Sinatra’s career.”

On the other end of the spectrum, nylon guitar simmers beneath the jazzy spunk of “Wave.”

“It’s a great example of Frank using the lower register of his voice,” Tremonti goes on. “It’s such a hip tune. I picture 007 sitting on the beach with a martini as it plays. It’s one of my favorites. I didn’t want to only cover the hits. There are some album tracks and some deep cuts that will encourage everyone to dig deeper into his catalog.”

He puts his own spin on “I Fall In Love Too Easily” with powerful intonation and nuanced inflection, adding a personal touch to the signature passion.

“It was originally in the movie Anchors Away ,” he says. “At one point, Gene Kelly leaves, and Sinatra sits at the piano and plays ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’ . I always loved the song, especially the chorus.”

Elsewhere, the band reimagines “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning” and album closer “All Or Nothing At All” rewinds back to Sinatra’s earliest days. As part of the final session in Chicago, Tremonti dove into “My Way” with acoustic guitar to close out recording sessions.

“When this came to an end, it was a bittersweet moment,” he admits. “Seeing the last guys standing at the end of the session was an emotional moment for me. We climbed a mountain, but I could’ve gone on forever with it. I look forward to doing a Part 2 if the opportunity arises.”

Well, it is just the beginning. Tremonti Sings Sinatra serves as the inaugural project for his new Take A Chance For Charity movement. It encourages and empowers artists, actors, athletes, and entertainers of all stripes to step into unexpected territory with a creative initiative for charity. Whether it be a football player singing country, an actor salsa dancing, or a rock/metal guitarist singing Sinatra, it’s all for a great cause.

“So many talented people have other skills that their fans or followers would never expect,” he leaves off. “This is the chance to do something you’re passionate about for charity. It’s a greenlight to do whatever you want to do. It’s a win-win all around. I want people to talk about this enough to get other artists to participate,” he leaves off. “Someday, I hope I’m a little old man who can look back saying he helped raise 100 million dollars for charity. My daughter has already made everyone around her a better person. To do this for her means the world to me.”

In the end, Tremonti did this all because of Stella.– Rick Florin , February 2022

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The otherside of Mark Tremonti

It was an awesome experience seeing Mark Tremonti as a different artist performing on stage something other than Metal. I was blown away with his vocals and performance. Such talent but very under rated. Mark Tremonti never lets you down when performing onstage.

Incredible band and voice. The song selection was perfect. Hoping to see them again.

Such a great show. I highly recommend if he tours again

Mark was fantastic. What a voice! He interacted well with the audience and really showed a lot of pride for his orchestra. He truly has a gifted voice that sounds amazing singing Frank’s songs. Will definitely see him again!

Great idea /great cause/great night

Thanks to Mark and the seriously outstanding musicians for keeping the spirit of the fabulous music and arrangements of Sinatra’s catalog alive and well. Your cause for Downs Syndrome is admirable and all your talents were exceptional and most entertaining. Days later, I’m still singing the songs of the night. A real fun night for me and my gal! Loved it.

Outstanding Performance

Great night for a great cause. Mark sounded amazing as did the backing band. One I will remember forever.

Such Talent

A Fundraiser for such a great cause. The talented Mark Tremonti didn't disappoint with his wonderful voice and entertaining stories. He sang and told stories of Frank Sinatra with a full orchestra and some of the original people who played for Sinatra himself. Class act! Totally recommend it can't wait to see this show again. Along with his other bands. 🤘

Absolutely Wonderful

This was a one of a kind experience that was absolutely awesome. At times you could close your eyes and believe you were actually at a Sinatra show. The fact that the show and merchandise supported NDSS was an added reward for attending the show, knowing that you were helping people even if a little bit.

Mark and the Band were exceptional!!!!!!! Please revisit us very soon!!!!

Mark Tremonti sings Sinatra

He was amazing everything he does is flawless! Be it singing Sinatra or playing in Alter Bridge or Tremonti always a great time!

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Mark Tremonti to Release Frank Sinatra Covers Album – Recorded With Ol’ Blue Eyes’ Band

'Tremonti Sings Sinatra' sees the Creed and Alter Bridge rocker launch his charity.

By Gary Graff

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Mark Tremonti calls it “the most exciting musical project I’ve ever been involved in.” Which, after multiple multi-platinum albums with Creed, leading the bands Alter Bridge and Tremonti and making guest appearances on albums by Sevendust and Bury Your Dead, is saying a lot. And rest assured, many of the heavy rock guitarist’s followers will be more than a bit surprised by what the project is.

Tremonti Sings Sinatra , which comes out May 27, is exactly what the title says. Tremonti put down his axe, put on a tailored suit and tie and recorded 14 Frank Sinatra songs last year, with a band comprised of more than a dozen of Sinatra’s touring musicians and led by his musical director Mike Smith. Proceeds will go to the National Down Syndrome Society, inspired by Tremonti’s one-year-old daughter Stella. The project also launches his Take A Chance For Charity initiative, which will challenge others in the public eye — musicians, athletes, actors, comedians — to step out of their comfort zones and make similar efforts for charity.

Mumford & Sons, Pharrell Williams Send 'Good People' to No. 1 on Adult Alternative Airplay Chart

“This gives everyone a get out of jail free card,” Tremonti tells Billboard . “If you do it for charity, there’s no, ‘Ah, what’d they do THAT for?!’ Imagine you’re a professional quarterback but you love singing. If you record a song and put it out, your fan base might weigh in and say, ‘Ah, just throw the football.’ But as soon as you do it for charity, people say, ‘What a good person!’ and then they might say, ‘Y’know, he’s got a decent voice. I’m gonna go deeper into what they’re doing musically.’ I want to have this roll into as many other people, with as many different backgrounds, as possible.”

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That’s certainly what gave Tremonti his license to record Frank Sinatra songs. He listened to The Chairman’s music as a youth growing up in Detroit and Chicago, “mostly at Christmas.” Hearing it later in life, Tremonti noticed that “when I would sing along with it, his vocal range just suits me. When I sing Sinatra stuff, I’m not having to stretch out and sing outside of my range like I do with the rock stuff, which is a perfect thing for a singer. I can’t do this with Michael Jackson or Prince, but I can do it with Frank Sinatra and people in that lower register.”

Before long Tremonti became “obsessed” with Sinatra’s music, studying recordings and video performances. He began talking about his interest a couple of years ago, but he didn’t know what to do about it until Stella was diagnosed with Down syndrome. “All the stars aligned for me right then,” Tremonti recalls. “I guess everything in life must have a reason, and the reason for me to be so obsessed with Frank Sinatra…was to do this record and raise money for charity and awareness for Down syndrome. It gave me new purpose in life.”

When Tremonti pitched the idea to his manager, Tim Tournier of Janus Music Management, he learned that Tournier had taken lessons from Sinatra’s guitarist Dan McIntyre. McIntyre brought Mike Smith into the project, and after hearing a tape of Tremonti singing “Luck Be a Lady” recorded in a bathroom at his home near Orlando, Fla. — “Nice reverb,” he says — the Frank Sinatra Estate gave the project its blessing.

Tremonti and the Sinatra crew recorded Tremonti Sings Sinatra during three two-day sessions in May, July and October of 2021 at Palisades Studio (formerly The Tone Zone) in Chicago. “Everybody was telling me how nervous I should be, and usually I am nervous for musical projects,” Tremonti says. “But I wasn’t nervous at all for this. I practiced this more than I’ve practiced anything. I went in there 1,000 percent prepared — every nuance, every breath. I sang these songs, like, 1,000 times over. So I couldn’t wait to get into that room.” He recounts that his preparations were so intense that at one point his son Pearson asked Tremonti to park his car further away from the soccer field where he was playing because his father could be heard singing in the lot nearby.

Smith did his part to help Tremonti get in the spirit of the sessions, handing him an original Sinatra vocal chart and giving him the same tea, with the same amount of lemon, that Ol’ Blue Eyes would use during his sessions. While initially concerned about “what I’m gonna do with this project,” Smith wound up complimenting Tremonti in the studio for doing his homework. After learning that Sinatra didn’t like men wearing earrings, meanwhile, Tremonti removed his — which he’s had since he was 18 years old — for the recording session and has not put them back in.

For material Tremonti chose a mix of popular standards and lesser known tracks for the set, including “I Fall In Love Too Easily” from the film Anchors Aweigh, “Wave,” “You Make Me Feel So Young” and “The Song Is You.” At the Sinatra estate’s direction, many of the tracks are reimagined. “They don’t want you to do sound-alikes of the original arrangements,” Tremonti explains. “I really wanted to do songs that I loved that maybe I’d be introducing people to, like ‘Wave’ or ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily.'” He was initially hesitant to include the iconic “My Way,” but the ensemble created a version of the signature song at the end of the third recording session that felt appropriate to include.

“That was the only song on the entire recording session we didn’t use charts for,” Tremonti notes. “It was more of an improvised thing, a very live, in the moment of that song. Dan was playing a nylon string acoustic guitar, and I think I sang it a little softer than the original version. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. I didn’t want it to sound like the normal ‘My Way.'”

Tremonti — who took publicity photos in Sinatra’s dressing room at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas — plans to celebrate the album’s release with a listening party and concert in Florida around the time of its release. He’d like to do more Sinatra dates but also has a packed slate of work on the rock side, including tours by both Tremonti and Alter Bridge; he’s recording a new album with the latter, for which pre-production begins next month. He will nevertheless make sure Tremonti Sings Sinatra and Take a Chance For Charity get a proper launch, and he hopes this isn’t the only time he’ll be recording songs from the Sinatra songbook.

“I would absolutely love it,” he says. “I remember it was so sad that last day, when I was in the room with the last few guys, saying bye. The Sinatra stuff gets me emotional, and when you draw into the fact I’m doing it for my daughter…it’s a special thing. I just want to raise a ton of money for Down syndrome, and get other people to raise money for charities they love. I want to be a little old man on my death bed knowing I raised $100 million for charity or something. I feel really driven to do that right now.”

The tracklist for Tremonti Sings Sinatra includes:

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

I’ve Got the World on a String

I Fall in Love Too Easily

Fly Me to the Moon

Nancy (With the Laughing Face)

You Make Me Feel So Young

Luck Be a Lady

That’s Life

Come Fly With Me

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

The Song is You

All Or Nothing at All

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Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra Tickets

About Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra

Mark Tremonti, rocker and founding member for Creed, Alter Bridge and Tremonti, takes the Stage at The Saban Theatre for a special, inspiring and heart-warming performance. The lights go down. Familiar horns pipe up from a world-class orchestra as piano twinkles like the jackpot lights on a winning slot machine. Then, the voice kicks in. It has all of the smoky splendor those first few notes hinted at, but it ain’t Ol’ Blue Eyes. In a tailored suit with microphone in hand, it’s Mark Tremonti. The GRAMMY® Award-winning multiplatinum musician sounds just as at home paying homage to the catalog of Frank Sinatra as he does fronting Tremonti or shredding his soul out as the guitarist for Alter Bridge and Creed. Moreover, he’s doing it for a reason that’d make the Chairman of the Board proud. Accompanied by surviving members of Sinatra’s band as well as various top-notch players, Tremonti cut 14 classics for Tremonti Sings Sinatra, which he gifted to the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) as part of his new organization Take A Chance For Charity. 100% of the album’s proceeds will go to NDSS and their work with people with developmental disabilities.

January 13th, 2024

Saban Theatre

Unfortunately, tickets for this event are no longer available.

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Keeping Real Music Alive

REVIEW: Mark Tremonti – ‘Tremonti Sings Sinatra’

By Greg Maki

And now for something completely different …

Hear the name Mark Tremonti and you’ll think of Alter Bridge, Creed and his eponymous solo band. Most of all, you’ll probably think of guitars—huge, muscular riffs and shredding solos. I’m reasonably sure that you won’t think of Ol’ Blue Eyes.

Mark started talking up Frank Sinatra last year while discussing his progression as a vocalist in relation to the latest Tremonti album, “Marching in Time,” saying that singing Sinatra tunes helped him develop his natural, lower register and become comfortable staying there instead of pushing his voice to hit higher notes. Well, it turns out there was more to it than that, as evidenced by his latest release, “Tremonti Sings Sinatra,” a collection of Sinatra classics faithfully recreated by Mark and surviving members of Sinatra’s orchestra. The record is being released as part of a new initiative created by Tremonti called Take a Chance for Charity. Proceeds from the album will go to support the National Down Syndrome Society and the work it does to advocate for and support individuals with Down syndrome and their families. In March 2021, Mark and his family welcomed their first daughter, Stella, who was born with Down syndrome.

From the first note of the record, it’s clear Tremonti wasn’t kidding when discussing his affection for Sinatra. He plays it absolutely straight throughout these 14 songs—no hints of irony, no  shoehorned-in guitar solos. In fact, Tremonti is solely a singer on this, and he delivers one knockout vocal performance after another—with “My Way” and “Luck Be a Lady” as his finest moments. Anyone who has followed his career, especially with the Tremonti band, knows Mark has a fine set of pipes, but nothing in his discography suggests he was capable of what we hear on this album. Cue up one of these songs for someone without telling him who it is and they’re likely to assume it’s a remastered recording by Sinatra himself.

Obviously, “Tremonti Sings Sinatra” won’t be for every hard rock and metal fan, devoid as it is of any connection to either of those genres. But to my surprise, it’s one of the most exciting recordings I’ve heard in some time. With music and a cause that Tremonti clearly has a passion for, here’s hoping that this isn’t merely a one-off but the start of an extensive new chapter in an already impressive career.

Track listing:

• “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”
• “I’ve Got the World on a String”
• “I Fall in Love Too Easily”
• “Fly Me to the Moon”
• “Nancy (with the Laughing Face)”
• “You Make Me Feel So Young”
• “Luck Be a Lady”
• “That’s Life”
• “Come Fly with Me”
• “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning”
• “The Song Is You”
• “All or Nothing At All”

Rating: 10/10

LINKS: Buy “Tremonti Sings Sinatra.” Donate directly to NDSS. www.ndss.org www.tremontisingssinatra.com www.marktremonti.com

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How Mark Tremonti taught himself to sing Sinatra and then faced the most difficult time of his life

"I decided, I'm just going to dive in and learn myself by ear"

In typical prolific Mark Tremonti style, he's talking to us about one new album while recording another. As he takes a break from piecing together songs for Alter Bridge 's seventh record with the band and producer Michael 'Elvis' Baskette in Orlando he's with us to discuss music that's very different to his usual hard rock; singing the songs of Frank Sinatra with musicians from the late legend's orchestra.

This fulfilment of his ambition to walk in the footsteps of Ol' Blue Eyes on the forthcoming Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra album isn't just a huge musical surprise and success (and he even painted the album's cover art), it's part of something much bigger in the musician's legacy. Mark's Take A Chance For Charity organisation seeks to encourage artists, actors and athletes to step outside their comfort zone for a good cause. And for Mark that cause isn't just close to home – it's part of his family life. 

His infant daughter Stella Monroe Elizabeth Tremonti has Down Syndrome and all proceeds from the Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra album will go to the National Down Syndrome Society ( NDSS ). A charity that works tirelessly to support families and advocate for people with the condition. 

But just before we discuss how Mark became a crooner and new charity founder, how about some insider information on this new Alter Bridge record currently being cooked up… 

"We started the day before yesterday," confirms Mark. "Yesterday we did one song and the first day we did two songs. We're in preproduction right now. We did a bunch of writing and now we're going through getting the final arrangements down and beginning to record."

Can you reveal anything about the album at this stage?

"I think we're going to try and do a 12-song record.  That's it so far – we're in the baby stages so we'll see how it turns out. It's so early on I can't tell you what kind of record it's going to be yet. Today we're diving into my favourite song I brought to the table so I'm excited about it."

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I've loved Sinatra for my whole life

Where did the idea for a Sinatra album start? 

"Well, I was really, really obsessed with Sinatra… I've loved Sinatra for my whole life. But for the past three years, I think I've really been on a deep dive and I remember one night, I was on YouTube , looking up all kinds of old stuff. And I decided, I want to sing just like him, I want to try my best and, and, and practice almost like you practice the guitar and just imitate it as good as I could. And I didn't know what I was going to do with it. 

"After about a year and a half or so, I'm was getting pretty comfortable with it and I want to do something with it. But I just didn't know if it had a place in my career. So then, when my daughter was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, I felt like, you know what, there's almost a reason why I'm doing this right now. And all the stars kind of aligned. 

"Sinatra was a very charitable guy – he raised over a billion dollars for charity. [So I decided] I'm going to do it in the name of charity, I'm going to do it to raise money and awareness for Down Syndrome. And when I told my manager Tim [Tournier] about it, he said, 'You know, my guitar teacher growing up was Dan McIntyre who was Frank Sinatra's touring guitar player.'

"So it was just one of those crazy things that everything just worked out so perfectly. And the toughest thing was just getting the project approved by the Sinatra family because they don't [usually] allow you to use his name or likeness on albums unless it's some big important deal, like Tony Bennett, or Michael Bublé. They are kind of the guys. So it's just it was a huge honour for me to be able to do it with his name." 

If I am going to put my neck on the line, I'm not going to embarrass myself

Was there a process of convincing Dan and fellow Sinatra band member Mike Smith that you were up to the job and did you have to do a lot of preparation?

They never heard me sing until I was in the studio. Tim had lunch with Dan and Mike and they asked him, 'Can your boy sing?' And Tim had never heard me sing Sinatra but responded, 'Yep, he can do it'. He just believed in me as as artist. I think over all the years, he knows that if I am going to put my neck on the line, I'm not going to  embarrass myself. So he believed in me.

"I actually sent him an audio clip from my phone of me singing Luck Be A Lady. So that convinced them to really push with the guys and say, I was the right guy, the right fit. And once we got in the studio, Mike Smith pulled me out in front of the whole band. 

"I've got a video of that first moment and I think there's a little teaser that in the video [further down the page] where he's like, 'Alright Mark, come sing with us.' And that's the first time I sang for him. And after we did the first session, a lot of the guys came up afterwards and were like, 'I didn't know what to think of this'. You know, rock n' roll guy crooning, but they were all very complimentary. They're like, 'Wow, this is gonna be great.' And then, at the end of the sessions they were saying that we've got to take this on the road. So you never know."

Nobody online that was teaching how to sing Frank Sinatra sounded like Frank Sinatra

Hearing your take on these songs, it actually makes a lot of sense for you to do this album because you've got that power in the lower register. But this kind of transition into big band singing can't be easy, so how did you rehearse?

"I did a deep dive and I searched everywhere online for any kind of resources for people's giving tips on [Sinatra's] pronunciation or where he got his lessons from or if he got trained in this and that. I found this book called Tips On Popular Singing that he wrote with his his vocal teacher [John Quinlan] when he was younger. But I didn't get much from that other than I noticed that when he said certain vowels, the shape of his mouth would line up with what he'd said in that book.  

"So I tried to follow that a little bit, but nobody online that was teaching how to sing Frank Sinatra sounded like Frank Sinatra. It would be like this tenor singing Frank Sinatra and it just didn't make sense. So I decided, I'm just going to dive in and learn myself by ear. And I remember Eric [ Friedman ], my guitar player in Tremonti, was like, 'Dude, nobody's gonna teach you how to sing this stuff like you're going to teach yourself by just diving in'. He saw how obsessed I was with it. 

"To be honest, the most beneficial thing for me was my son. My younger son Pearson had soccer practice about 45 minutes away [from our home]. And he was on two soccer teams for a while. So he would have three hour practices sometimes.  I'd have a good four hours at least of sitting in a car because during COVID, we weren't allowed to go on the field. So I'd sit in the car, break out my laptop; I would write down the lyrics and spell it how he pronounced it, I would move it how he phrased it. I would imitate how he breathed and I would just study my ass off and sing the whole time. 

"I'd sing for four hours straight and Pearson would have to listen to me sing all the way to soccer practice and all the way home for soccer practice. And I know that by the time I'd be going home, I felt good about it. Every day I'd start and think, oh, you got some work to do. And every day I'd go home and feel, alright, you got some work done today. Every day I felt better about it. And I would just pick my setlist and every time I'd feel like I got a song down pretty well I'd put it in the book and move on to the next song."

Is that the book of notes we can see in the video?

[Mark shows us the book of his Sinatra song lyrics and notes next to him] "It's always right here. I'm in my studio and this is right on my on my studio desk. So I got my Ol' Blue Eyes folder."

It's really interesting that you did this without any kind professional vocal coach coming in.

"I didn't really have training on the guitar, either. I think if you just have that patience and that passion about something, and you really just dive in, and listen to all the little nuances. That being said, not everybody is going to be able to sit down and sing Frank Sinatra. If I sat down and tried to sing Prince, I wouldn't be able to do it. Or if I sat down and tried to sing Michael Jackson, I wouldn't be able to do it. Finding somebody that you're passionate about that has your vocal range, which is sometimes hard to find. 

"And Frank Sinatra was perfect for me. His vocal range and my vocal range… he gets a little lower than I get. But when he sings his high stuff, there's not a lot of moments were I'm really stretching too much. You know, I think some of the highest notes that I sing on this record are maybe the end of Fly Me To The Moon. There's not a lot of stuff really stretching up there. And that's what I like about it – it's smooth, and it's it's confident. Frank wasn't a pusher."

Hopefully I can do Volume Two of this

There's a lot of control and subtlety, though. With the pronunciation, do you think there's a misconception when it comes to the challenge of this style of singing, that people overlook the details of that? 

"Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And then controlling your vibrato, knowing exactly where you're going to do it and what vowel sounds you're going to be making when you're pulling off that vibrato and where you're going to breathe out. A good example of Frank Sinatra is his breath control is told he covers Old Man River. And there's a note in there and when he hits the word 'jail', he just goes on forever. And then he vibratos at the end of it and does a little thing. He does this great little tail to that piece that if you don't have your breath, there's no way you're going to do it. 

"A lot of these guys that I recorded with would see him do that live and it's crazy how he held his breath that long. You have to prepare for it, like when I sing along to it I just know that I've got to take a massive breath before that part. But yeah, listen to him do Old Man River in Til The Clouds Roll By – it's a feature film where they had all these different singers come in and he sang in that. That was one of the videos that got me thinking, I want to sing like this incredible performer. Just such a great performance. So I'll always be a fan. I'm going to keep on digging on and hopefully I can do Volume Two of this."

Was Mike Smith able to give you any kind of insider kind of tips from his time with Sinatra?

Well, he, he gave me this right here [shows us a tea sachet]. Right before I sang for the first time, he gave me a cup of tea. And he said it was exactly what Frank would use when he would sing. It was so surreal – the amount of lemon and everything in there. So that was awesome. 

"I think at first Mike really wanted to kind of hold my hand through the process, but I think he then realised. There was a second in recording when Mike said, 'The old man wouldn't put vibrato on this particular word'. And I was about to record it and I was so used to singing it that way. So I asked, 'Well, can we pull out the recording because I've meticulously gone over all this stuff'. And we played it back. He said, 'Oh, you're right'. Because he's used to seeing it live night after night after night. I'm used to doing the recorded version, so I'm singing it like the recorded version. He's hearing it live. 

"I appreciate it all. He wanted to get it right and legit. I think he just realised that I did my homework. I wasn't winging it. I was singing it exactly the way I planned to sing it."

I didn't want to have a whole record full of his most well known songs

Where did you draw the line between what Sinatra did on these songs and putting your own spin on them? 

"I tried to stay as close as I could to what he did. And I think any any spin you hear me putting on it is just not being able to do exactly what Frank did. So I tried to get as close as I possibly could. And then he has so many different versions of some of these songs. You know, somebody might think I'm putting my own spin on something when I'm just singing another version he did. I'm just taking all his performances and putting them into a song. So I guess that is putting a spin on it. 

"But to be honest I just love what he did. Some of these songs that he sang were done by a lot of other singers, but he was the guy to me that really sang them right. So I wanted to learn exactly how he sang it and just enjoy doing it ."

And for the first time in your career, this isn't guitar-driven music. 

It just never came into my thought process because when you're doing the big band thing, you have to really listen out for the guitar. And a lot of these songs… in I've Got You Under My Skin it's not a prominent instrument. But when we recorded the song Wave, that song was very prominent on the guitar. 

"I didn't want to have a whole record full of his most well known songs. I wanted to do some deep cuts. But when I decided to do My Way, I thought, if I'm gonna do this song, it's got to be different and we've got to put our own spin on it. So that was the only song on the whole record that we got rid of all the charts. Everybody just kind of sat in the room and felt it out. 

"I sat with Dan McIntyre, and he just started playing parts and played it three or four different ways. And we ended up going through the first verse and chorus section with maybe no percussion and then built it and then broke it down, and just made a lot of dynamics. I think we had piano, drums, bass, and guitar and then all the winds – all the wind instruments were put in after after the fact." 

It's more of a low key but emotive approach to it. And Wave is really interesting too. There's a really low note in that from you… 

"Oh, yes. That's that's the only song on the whole record that I might not perform live because that note is only happens certain times of the day for me, you know, it's it's a very tough one. It's actually better early in the morning for that low note. So if I did concerts at 10 in the morning, I'd be great. But at night, it might not happen."

So live shows are on the cards?

"We're trying to put a show on May 14 here in Orlando [this show at The Abbey has now sold out]. Every time we do an Alter Bridge record, or Tremonti record, we do listening parties where people will come in from all over the world and hear the record before it comes out. Then we'll do a live performance of these new songs. And so we'll do the same thing here. We've we've already reserved a room and it's a small theatre. I was talking to Tim yesterday and he's like, 'Man, what if this thing sells out really quickly? Because it's not a huge room'. I said, 'Well, we could do it like Sinatra did back in the day, he would go to the Paramount Theatre and just do a show at this time, and then another show at a later time, and all on the same day.'

"And this is the kind of music that you can do like that – it's not destroying my voice to sing, because it's in my range. It's not doing the rock thing where I'm killing my voice. So I could do the multiple show thing."

Even if you know the melody, if you don't really hone in on every word and every syllable of that word, you're not going to get the most out of your vocal

Have you felt that this project will benefit your singing with Tremonti and Alter Bridge?

"Absolutely. I was just talking to Myles [ Kennedy , Alter Bridge vocalist /guitarist] about that yesterday. In the past I would write melodies and I'd write lyrics and just go in the studio and sing them. I wouldn't think too much about how I'm going to approach it, I would just do it by whatever emotion I had at the time. But now I will write down my lyrics and do the same thing I did with the Frank Sinatra stuff – really, really hone in on exactly where I'm going to throw the vowel sounds, how I'm going to breathe and how I'm going to throw vibrato and where I'm not going to throw vibrato. And just so when you sing it, you can sing it very confidently. 

"You would think it would make it more robotic, but it sounds freer, because when you're singing it, you can then have that confidence in that word you're singing and then put your own spin on it as you're going. Instead of just kind of falling down the stairs, singing something that you haven't practised. Because even if you know the melody, if you don't really hone in on every word and every syllable of that word, you're not going to get the most out of your vocal. So now I know and I never thought of that in the past."

I realised that he had multiple personalities when it came to his singing

What did you learn about Sinatra through through this process, even as a fan going in? Was there anything that gave you a kind of a new appreciation?

"Oh absolutely, I think he was just such a passionate guy with what he wanted to get into. When it came to singing, and he just was unstoppable. Then wanted to be an actor and he became unstoppable at that as well. One thing I wanted people to know, through this project, was that he was such a philanthropist. He raised a billion dollars for charity. And he was the type of guy that would not let people know when he would donate certain things and wanted to do things under the radar. Some people don't talk about that and I think through this project, hopefully a lot more people will realise that. The big tough, charismatic Frank Sinatra that everybody knows was also a softy and really did a lot of good things. 

"I realised that he had multiple personalities when it came to his singing. In his early days it was very airy, very light with almost a smile on his face when he's sang. He's happy with happy songs like The Song Is You and All Or Nothing At All. Even I'll Never Smile Again – a sad song but the same kind of airy approach. 

"Then I feel like there was that midpoint in his career where he kind of fell off for a while, for I think about three years his career kind of went down the tubes for a little bit. And then when he came back with this new style. He partnered up with Nelson Riddle and it was a more mature kind of a sound.

"I love them both. I think both both of his sounds were great. And I think in in his older life, [he had] an even more mature sound. If you listen to Send In The Clowns or something, listen to how confident and just how smooth and how much space he leaves and how just commanding he is. I think there were so many areas, and there's so much music – he recorded over 1,400 songs. And not only that, if you dig in deeper you can see all the television shows that he hosted, where he would sing nonstop, and so many other songs, you could spend a lifetime and still find new stuff that Frank Sinatra sang and performed on and acted in. So it's an endless resource. If you're a fan of Frank Sinatra, you're not going to run out of things to check out."

Whenever I'd sing to her, she'd smile

There's some great candid clips of you singing Sinatra to your daughter Stella in the video [above] introducing the album and charity. It that adds a whole deeper element to this.

"There were early clips of when she was a little itty bitty baby. And then my wife wanted to show some clips of her older now because little babies are cute, but when they're nine / ten months old they get adorable. So I sent my friend John, who was putting the video together, some clips, and then I realised every day I sing her The Song Is You  – The Song Is You is the song I sing to her when I want her to smile. So I sang Frank Sinatra to her all the time when I was practising.

"My wife would get up at 6.30am and get our kids off to school, then I would take the eight o'clock shift, and I'd get up with Stella and spend three hours in the morning with her and I would practice singing Sinatra, and she enjoyed it. I would sit there playing Sinatra songs and singing them to her. So whenever I'd sing to her, she'd smile. 

"I would send my friend John all these clips and just kind of show people this wasn't something that I did on a whim, this is something that's part of our daily lives. I must have 70 videos of me singing to her. Those are just four or five of the videos. I could have gone on for a whole hour-long session of her smiling. I sing [Mark starts singing I Hear Music] and she smiles."

That was the worst, most difficult time in my entire life. Hands down

How is Stella doing after her heart surgery earlier this year?

"She's doing so well. You know, that was the worst, most difficult time in my entire life. Hands down. When you don't know what's gonna happen, when your little baby's about to have open heart surgery where they have to bypass her heart, it was just terrifying. Then, two days later, we're in the hospital and she's smiling. She's got a smile on her face and she's laughing. Her chest was all tied together with wire…  she's a tough little girl. She's awesome. The doctor says she has a stronger chest now than other kids because because it's got more support."

All the proceeds from this album will be going to the National Down Syndrome Society . Can you tell us a little about the work they do?

"The NDSS is the largest of the Down Syndrome charities and they bring awareness – they have all kinds of support systems in place. There's no cure for Down Syndrome, and that's very clear, but families who have somebody with Down Syndrome have to keep an eye on physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy. People who don't have insurance, there's a lot of heart issues for a lot of kids with Down Syndrome. You'll see that they have the big scars on their chests just like Stella did. 

"I couldn't imagine a family not having insurance going through what I went through. There are independent programmes where the NDSS house people with Down Syndrome so they can be apart from their families and have a job, live on their own – there's whole communities that have that. There's local programmes where they teach kids with Down Syndrome to ride bikes. And you have all these people that volunteer their time. 

"Just the other day, my friend put on an event to try to raise a million dollars. I think they raised $300,000 and there's so many things that that they do. It's a very supportive community and they help so much with so many events all year long. These families need a lot of help. It's not something for people to be afraid of, having a child with Down Syndrome, but it's definitely a responsibility and it's great to have the community to support you."

I've been really, really busy keeping up with trying to connect with as many people as possible to do this

This is also the first project for your new Take A Chance For Charity endeavour. You've thrown the gauntlet down with this for artists, actors and athletes to follow your lead.

"I've been really, really busy keeping up with trying to connect with as many people as possible to do this. Yesterday I was on the phone with a handful of people about it. I don't want to say all their names yet, because if some fall through I don't want people to be disappointed, but here's at least 10 projects right now we're talking about going forward with. 

In a perfect world everybody's raising money for Down Syndrome, but Take A Chance For Charity is for people to do something that nobody would expect them to do to raise money for charity. And I'd like it to be a charity that they really, really believe in. So there's a story behind it and they can talk about how important it is for them to raise money for that reason; maybe a family member needed help or whatever the organisation it is. 

"Obviously, for me, it's Down Syndrome. But right now, all the people we're talking to are going to go through NDSS because we already have that relationships set up where if you donate it goes straight to them, and all the legalities and all that stuff are taken care of. So if we're going to do a different charity, we just have to make that next step. It sounds easy on the outside; let's raise money for charity. But when you do it there's a lot of red tape that goes into it. For us it's great to partner up with NDSS and for them to make it easy for us. So when people donate, they can get that tax write off, feel good about what they did and it's all nice and easy through NDSS."

The album Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra is released on 27 May. For more info visit tremontisingssinatra.com and preorder the album here . 

I'm the Guitars Editor for MusicRadar, handling news, reviews, features, tuition, advice for the strings side of the site and everything in between. Before MusicRadar I worked on guitar magazines for 15 years, including Editor of Total Guitar in the UK. When I'm not rejigging pedalboards I'm usually thinking about rejigging pedalboards.   

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Q104.3's QN'A

Mark tremonti finds his 'happy place' singing sinatra for charity.

Alter Bridge / Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti raised lots of questions when he announced his Tremonti Sings Sinatra tribute to Frank Sinatra earlier this year.

But whatever your preconceptions about Tremonti as an artist, you will find Tremonti Sings Sinatra as a formidable, loving and multi-layered tribute to one of the 20th century's most beloved artists and pop culture figures.

Tremonti Sings Sinatra will make you fall in love with Ol' Blue Eyes all over again, and as Mark tells Q104.3 New York's QN'A , he wouldn't have it any other way.

"There are just so many sides to Sinatra," Mark says. "Whatever he was passionate about, he chased it down. That was inspiring to me to watch. He was a passionate guy and he had no borders on what he was going to try to accomplish in his life and he tackled it all."

Mark is a longtime Sinatra fan who got deeply invested in the icon's music a few years ago, in an obsession undoubtedly spurred on by the joy he found in singing along to that iconic repertoire.

But Mark he dove deeper into Sinatra's life and career, he learned that Sinatra was more than a singer and actor; he was also a philanthropist who reportedly raised over $1 billion for charity in his lifetime.

Mark himself has worked with many charities over the years, but when his daughter Stella was diagnosed with Down Syndrome last year, it meant he had a new cause to champion. And he also knew how he could lend a hand.

"I said, ‘You know what? There’s a reason for my obsession. I’m going to record an album of Frank Sinatra songs and I’m going do it for charity for Down’s Syndrome through NDSS (the National Down Syndrome Society ),'" he explained.

Mark made his new album through the Take a Chance for Charity organization, dedicated to bringing public figures outside their comfort zones to bring attention to causes important to them. All the proceeds from Tremonti Sings Sinatra will go to NDSS, and Mark is already mulling a follow-up album.

Read the full QN'A below.

Tremonti Sings Sinatra is available everywhere today (May 27). For more on Tremonti Sings Sinatra and Mark's partnership with NDSS, go here .

Follow Mark on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram for more updates.

( The following transcription has been edited for clarity and brevity.)

I had a lot of questions when I first heard about this album. Let's start with those: Why you? Why Frank Sinatra? Why now?

Well, I’ve been a fan of Frank Sinatra my whole life. But about three years ago, I really became kind of obsessed and went way down the rabbit hole. I read a bunch of books, watched all the movies, tried to emulate what he was doing.

Just like as a young guitar player, I’d hear another player and try to play just like them, I did the same thing with Sinatra’s vocals. I really went deep and practiced non-stop, but then I kind of came to a point where I’m like, ‘All right. I’m getting this, but what am I going to do with it?’

Then my daughter [Stella] was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, so the stars kind of aligned there. I said, ‘You know what? There’s a reason for my obsession. I’m going to record an album of Frank Sinatra songs and I’m going do it for charity for Down Syndrome through NDSS.’

It’s one of those things where it was just meant to be in my brain, you know?

Were you familiar with Sinatra's movies before?

Not really. I just became a fan of learning about his life; his life was fascinating.

A lot of songs on this album, like “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” I came across that song from Anchors Aweigh [1945], the movie with Gene Kelly .

There are just so many sides to Sinatra. Whatever he was passionate about, he chased it down. That was inspiring to me to watch. He was a passionate guy and he had no borders on what he was going to try to accomplish in his life and he tackled it all.

I admit that I breathed a sigh of relief after I realized that this was not an album of 'rock' versions. Was it refreshing for you to do something so distant from rock?

Yeah, it was amazing. Fifteen out of the 17 or 18 guys we tracked with were all musicians that performed with Frank Sinatra. It was an honor just to be aside them and it was so different of a process than a rock record. The songs you hear are one take from start to finish of this band playing.

Nowadays, you can ProTools the hell out of any band and make it 100 percent perfect. But that’s not what this was about. I told the producer I wanted this to sound real, I want this to sound like the old ‘50s, ‘60s Capitol Records recordings. There’s not a bunch of edits and tuning and this and that, this is the band playing for real.

These guys would play the song once together just to get the arrangement, to see if anybody had any questions. Then they’d play through it two more times and be done.

All 14 songs we got done in six days. With a rock record, 14 songs would take you two months.

The very first session we did “Luck Be a Lady” and “That’s Life.” I can’t remember exactly when that was, but we’d have a month or so in between sessions. It was one of the most exciting times of my life preparing for these recordings.

Did you play any of the guitar on the record? How did you get connected to so many former members of Frank's live band?

I did not play guitar. I wanted just to focus on the vocals. Dan McIntyre did an excellent job on the guitar; he was actually my manager’s childhood guitar teacher. That was one of our ins with the actual guys that played with Sinatra.

You know Frank Sinatra wasn’t a songwriter; he sang other people’s songs. Carey Deadman did a lot of arranging for Sinatra towards the end of his career, so he was the one who put all the charts together for everybody. Then he would give me digital versions of what the song was going to be so I could practice with them. They all sounded great to me right off the bat, so I didn’t really have to mess with anything.

The album is very true to Sinatra's original recordings, but there are some new arrangements. How did you decide which songs were going to be reinterpreted?

We had to do a batch of songs that were different from the original arrangements that Frank Sinatra did because we wanted to get these songs played on [the radio] and they need original versions.

We did “My Way” completely different with a nylon-string guitar approach. We did “I Fall in Love Too Easily” with a rhythm section. We did the same with “All or Nothing At All” and “The Song Is You.” “In The Wee Small Hours” has more of a big band vibe than the original version.

We tried to do our own thing for about half the record, the other half we tried to stay true to the original.

Did you find that you had to wear a suit to get into the headspace to perform with this band?

The first sessions, I wore a suit. I wore a suit most of the time, but the video for “Fly Me to the Moon” I was wearing a damn hoodie.

I would go up to Chicago, wear my suit and then the next day, I’d be like, ‘Ah, we’re all friends here, let me just be comfortable today.' Now looking back on it, I wish I wore my suit for that day too so it had that classy look to it.

I think the next song that we’re going to put out might be “My Way,” and I think I was wearing at least a tie for that.

I took my earrings out. I haven’t had my earrings in for about a year now, since I’ve been doing this.

I know you've been working on your vocals for a long time, in Alter Bridge and your solo band. Tell me about some of the challenges you faced trying to pull off this record as a singer.

I really had to dive in with every single word. One of the first things that I did was of course Google ‘Frank Sinatra vocal lessons.’ You know, all the vocal lessons that I saw, nobody sounded anything like Frank Sinatra, which blew my mind.

You’d have these great vocal teachers trying to teach you how to sing like Frank Sinatra, but they sound like they’re Chris Cornell doing it. You kind of have to have that vocal range to be able to do it.

That’s what served me well in this process. I could practice eight hours a day if I wanted to without blowing my voice out because his range was not a high range, and I could hit the notes. If anything, his range is super low.

If you listen to the record on “Wave,” that’s the lowest note I think that he ever record, when he goes ' Togeth-uhhh .' That note is hard to hit when you’re onstage, I’m sure.

But the hardest thing was his phrasing, the way he moved his phrases. He’ll never sing the same thing twice. If you memorize the first verse in a song, the second verse is not going to be phrased the same way. He’s gonna play with it.

He approached his vocals like a guitar player or a saxophone player would approached their instrument. They had swagger with it, they moved it around, they didn’t play it by the book.

I think Sinatra always admired the people in his bands and respected them and loved the way they phrased their instruments. I think he was just trying to be another instrument in that room. I think he learned a lot of his vocal approach by watching Tommy Dorsey play the trombone. He admits openly that he would sit there and be baffled by how he never seemed to take a breath. So he would learn how to breathe and how to phrase by watching Tommy Dorsey.

So I would sit down with my laptop, and I would listen to the songs and I would type out the words the way he pronounced them. ‘Cause he would dig into certain vowels, and I would make notes on where he would throw his vibrato and where he would take his breaths.

Each and every word I would study where it was put timewise, how it was pronounced, how the vibrato if there was any on it, and how much air he put on it.

Earlier in his career he used a lot of air … he was very breathy. In his old age he was more straight head [voice], the deep, rich voice just coming out. So I tried to learn both ways, as exact as I could, his approach on all these songs. It was a fun process.

Were the musicians you worked with on this album aware of your career up to this point, with Creed and Alter Bridge and Tremonti? Was it weird to be known in the room as ‘the singer’?

You know there’s a funny video on YouTube on the story behind this project . There’s a clip of Mike Smith the bandleader and he’s like, ‘When I was approached about this project I did a little research on Mark.’ And there’s a clip of me playing a festival over in Europe and a song called “Wish You Well” where there’s a massive moshpit.

So these guys didn’t know what they were getting into. When you hear me sing in Tremonti, I’m [scream] singing. I think they were all pleased that I wasn’t going to come in the room and completely destroy Frank’s legacy [ laughs ] with this project.

Is this project the first time you worked with NDSS?

For my whole adult life, me and my wife have been a part of so many charities in town, coming through. We’d always go to the events and our friends have hosted a lot of these events and invited us. It always feels good to help all these charities, but it feels so much better to have your own.

Since our daughter was born with Down’s Syndrome, it’s like I have a new purpose in life. Like I said, she’s all over the room [ holds up photo ]. She inspires me to try to be a better person, and for the rest of my life, this is my new cause. I want to push other people to do Take a Chance for Charity.

I did this record to be the start of this new organization called Take a Chance for Charity, where other artists — whether it be a musician, a painter or a dancer, whatever it is, an actor — to do something outside the box that their fanbase would not expect them to do, to raise money for charity.

If people go to TremontiSingsSinatra.com, they’ll see all the how-tos and all the directions on how to do that.

You seem to have enjoyed this Sinatra project so much? Are you thinking of doing another album?

Since I put this record out, a lot of people have said, ‘Hey, it’d be great to see a Christmas album.’ I would love to do that. That’s really one of the first ways that I figured I could sing like Frank Sinatra was singing Christmas songs.

It would be an awesome project. If this is successful enough, I’ll definitely get back in the studio and do it again. I’d like to do Volume 2 of Sinatra, though. I left so many songs off the table for this record that it really bummed me out that we could only do 14.

What are your plans for the rest of the year, from this album to Alter Bridge, Tremonti, etc.

I just got off tour with Tremonti and jumped right into the studio with Alter Bridge.

The day this record comes out, May 27, I go to Europe to start a European tour with Tremonti. Then I get home and we plan on hopefully getting some Sinatra shows put together. Maybe some Tremonti shows, who knows?

There’s a window in between July and October that’s kind of in the planning stage. Then, this winter, maybe some Sinatra and Alter Bridge shows, as well.

How about a Tremonti/Sinatra double-bill? One set heavy metal, one set Sinatra music.

I think both fanbases might clash a little bit, but a lot of the Tremonti fans have welcomed this.

I think the Sinatra thing is great because I see heavy metal guys going, ‘I love Sinatra!’ You’d never think that. It just makes people happy, this kind of music.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews like, ‘I don’t know what it is about this music; it just puts a smile on my face.’ That’s how it is for me, it’s like my happy place this music.  

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A metalhead takes on Sinatra, and even Slash approves

Longtime guitar hero mark tremonti was inspired to record an album of standards and create a charitable venture.

There he was, sitting in his wife’s Escalade at his son’s soccer practice, singing “Luck Be a Lady” at concert volume. Mark Tremonti, the metal hero proclaimed “Riff Lord” and co-founder of Creed, had the windows rolled up, but that didn’t seem to help. After practice, his teenage son, Pearson, walked over with a report.

“Dad, I can hear you across the street,” he said.

“So from that point on, I had to park across the street at another parking lot,” Tremonti says. “I don’t want to embarrass my kid.”

But now, three years later, Tremonti isn’t keeping Frank Sinatra to himself. The guitarist, considered one of the few modern day-guitar heroes, has released an album of Sinatra covers — and he’s not playing a single monster lick. Instead, he’s at the mic to sing 14 Sinatra standards, including “Luck Be a Lady,” “My Way” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” What’s more, Tremonti is backed by several members of Sinatra’s final band. The album, “Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra,” surprised those who have heard him shredding on his PRS guitar.

“It blew my mind,” says Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist. “It just sounded so authentic. And it’s Mark from Alter Bridge, a metal guy, so I’m not expecting it at all. But all the vocal inflections, the personality, the Frank-centric feel of it, went way beyond any expectations I had.”

Norm Macdonald had one last secret

Genre-bending records can, of course, go terribly wrong, whether it’s Pat Boone doing metal or the Beach Boys trying country.

But Tremonti never saw Sinatra as a marketing opportunity. The new record emerged as a series of chance conversations, life circumstances — and connections. There also was his genuine love for the music.

Before the pandemic, Tremonti and his wife, Victoria, decided to have a third child. There was a miscarriage and then, in 2020, Victoria got pregnant again. This time, the doctor determined the baby had Down syndrome, which occurs in about 6,000 newborns in the United States each year.

At first, Tremonti, 48, fell into a funk. He wondered how the diagnosis would affect his family and work. That’s when he talked to his manager, Tim Tournier, whose older brother has Down syndrome and is high-functioning, with a job and girlfriend.

“Breathe,” Tournier recalls telling Tremonti. “I know it’s scary, but it’s going to be awesome. And I remember telling him that, and he was just kind of like, ‘You know, I believe it.’”

Stella Tremonti was born in March 2021.

“After she was born, I remember thinking to myself, ‘I’ve never smiled this much in my life,’” Tremonti says, pointing to a photo of Stella in his studio as he talks over Zoom. “This little thing, this little girl, makes me smile still.”

Before Stella’s birth, there were other anxieties as well. The pandemic had shut down touring, and Tremonti, a prolific performer, was antsy. Hearing this, Tournier thought of one of the guitarist’s great loves, the music of Sinatra. Tournier has a personal connection to the crooner: As a young guitarist in Chicago, he was mentored by guitarist Dan McIntyre, who had been in Frank Sinatra Jr.’s band. So, wanting to cheer up his friend, Tournier called McIntrye to ask whether it might be possible to round up some musicians to do a few Sinatra songs with Tremonti.

Saxophonist Mike Smith, who toured with Sinatra from 1981 to 1994, got the call and went on YouTube to check out Tremonti.

“I could tell right away that he was a phenomenal musician, even though the genre and everything was different,” Smith says. “And like Duke Ellington said, there’s only two kinds of music, good and bad.”

Carey Deadman, who worked on Sinatra’s tours as an arranger, was more skeptical. He figured he had heard this tune before: Someone wants to live out his fantasy through Frank.

“We’re all kind of rolling our eyes like, ‘Oh, another Sinatra wannabe,’” Deadman says. “Like, ‘How many are there? When will the stream end?’”

Tremonti didn’t grow up dreaming of smoky barrooms and a glass of Jack. He decided to play guitar after hearing the powerful barre chords that drove the J. Geils Band’s “Love Stinks.” He got into harder stuff through his Black Flag and Metallica tapes. At Florida State University, he got to know singer Scott Stapp and they formed Creed, a partnership that led to four albums that sold more than 50 million copies. Creed eventually dissolved over tensions with Stapp, but Tremonti and his other bandmates, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips, went on to form Alter Bridge with singer Myles Kennedy.

Tremonti was never known as a singer, serving on backup vocals with Creed and Alter Bridge before taking lead for his namesake band’s records. (He has made five Tremonti albums since 2012.)

“Initially, when we started working together, he seemed strangely hesitant to sing when we would write together,” Kennedy says. “And I thought, ‘Well, he’s got a wonderful voice, a rich baritone.’”

Nabil Ayers has barely spoken to his father. But he has no regrets.

Tremonti has a habit of getting into mini-obsessions, whether pinball or science fiction. He remembers stumbling across Sinatra YouTube clips about four years ago and being mesmerized.

He bought a plastic binder like a star-struck schoolkid and slid a photo of Frank from a recording session on the cover. He put song lyrics inside and marked up the sheets. The scribbles told him when there was a drop in pitch or a dose of vibrato, a pause or a snap of the fingers.

“I think one of the cool things about Sinatra is he didn’t just sing it straight on the beat,” Tremonti says. “And he never sang the same song the same way twice. I picked my favorite version and tried to sing it as close to that and then naturally put my own thing on it. A lot of people are like, ‘Yeah, it’s great how you took Frank Sinatra and made it your own.’ I’m like, ‘The only way I made it my own is because I couldn’t make it exactly like Frank Sinatra.’”

In Chicago in May 2021, the musicians gathered for the cheer-up jam session. It went well. Tremonti showed up with his notebook, and the others in the room, including Smith and Deadman, were impressed.

“He came early and I said, ‘Let’s go upstairs, just you and me,’ and so he started singing and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you did a lot of homework here,’” Smith says. “I thought it was going to be good, but not as good as it was.”

“He went to school on Sinatra,” says Deadman. “You can tell he listened to him a lot, but he is singing it in his own voice. And he’s bringing in his own phrasing. But he particularly seemed to listen to the earlier crooner days. And you know, I think that’s the vibe he was going for. It’s a really beautiful sound.”

After those sessions, Tremonti and Tournier talked about Sinatra — the musician and the man. They knew he had raised millions for charity. Then the idea came to Tremonti. What if he put out a Sinatra album and donated the proceeds to the National Down Syndrome Society ? Medical procedures are often required — Stella had a heart operation just nine months after her birth — and there is a constant need for physical therapy.

And more than a one-time fundraiser, Tremonti also decided to launch Take a Chance for Charity , a venture meant to inspire others. He’s already heard of interest from a couple of buddies, comedian Larry the Cable Guy and the wrestler Edge.

But Tremonti isn’t ready to give up Frank. In May, he performed with a 17-piece band that included Smith, Deadman and McIntyre in Orlando, where he lives, to launch the album. The show raised $150,000. He’s hoping to take it on tour later in the year.

“It was good to see these people that I’ve seen for 20-plus years coming to rock concerts and black T-shirts in their suits and cocktail dresses,” he says. “Except for one guy. He was like, ‘You’ll never see me dressed up like this again.’”

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Tremonti Sings Sinatra

• Date 15 Dec 2022
• Venue indigo at The O2
• Doors Open 7pm
• Availability On sale now

Event Details

Mark Tremonti will be performing his album Mark Tremonti Sings Frank Sinatra  alongside members of Frank Sinatra's orchestra at indigo at The O2 on 15 December 2022.

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Why Mark Tremonti Recorded A Frank Sinatra Album For Charity

Mark Tremonti 's guitar work powered a steady string of radio hits with Creed in the late '90s, before he shifted to harder-edged rock with Alter Bridge and the self-titled Tremonti band. Few probably expected him to cut an entire album of Frank Sinatra songs.

But Tremonti has done exactly that, working in secret for the past year on Tremonti Sings Sinatra . The LP arrives on May 27 as the flagship project for a new Take a Chance for Charity initiative. Proceeds from album sales benefit the National Down Syndrome Society.

His daughter Stella was born with Down Syndrome in March 2021 and Tremonti saw an opportunity to do something positive with the newly created charity. He's also challenging his fellow musical peers to take similar risks, all in the name of raising money for a good cause.

Tremonti spoke with UCR to share the story behind Tremonti Sings Sinatra  while preparing to celebrate its release with a special benefit concert . Turns out, his passion for the crooner goes way back.

What are your first memories of hearing Frank's music? When I was a kid, during Christmas time, I always remember hearing Sinatra songs – just through the years and throughout my life. I just loved Sinatra, in general. I thought the music was fantastic and his voice was just about the best there ever was to me. As I grew older, I realized his vocal range was right where mine is, so it was good for me to be able to learn his approach and not have to strain. With other singers, it would probably be impossible to do this, but his range just suited me very well.

How did you decide to take a shot at recording a full album of Sinatra songs? The funny thing is, my manager Tim Tournier, when I told him I wanted to do something with this project – I think I was talking about it for a year or two before this project happened. There was really no place for it. I didn’t know if my fans would appreciate it or not, but I wanted to do it so bad because I was just so into it. I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. Tim told me his guitar teacher was Dan McIntyre, one of Frank Sinatra’s touring guitar players. What a strange coincidence it was for him to be able to get in touch with all of the guys. So he was the one who connected us with Mike Smith. But this was after, you know, I’d been talking to Tim for a while about the Sinatra thing. Like I said, we didn’t know if there was a place for it anywhere but you know, some things happen for a reason. You might believe that or not, but when me and my wife went to the doctor’s office and got the diagnosis that our daughter had Down Syndrome, it almost immediately told me, “That’s why I’ve been chasing this down. I’m going to do this Sinatra record, I’m going to do it for charity and raise money for Down Syndrome awareness and help these folks out that are in the same situation.” From there, you know, he just got the wheels turning. I was like, “You know what, I want to start an organization called Take a Chance for Charity . This Sinatra thing is something that nobody’s going to see coming. I’m going to take that and use it as a platform to ask other people to do the same thing. Let’s do something that nobody would see coming.”

The slogan could be, “The most fun you ever had raising money for charity.” You know, get a football player to sing a song or get a boxer to do a magic trick. Whatever it is, [do something] to raise money for charity, under the Take a Chance for Charity thing. This will be the first project that gets out there. I’m as proud of this as I’ve ever been of anything in my life. It was such an incredible experience for me. I hope I can do this again because it was just the ultimate experience in the studio.

It's pretty incredible hearing how you were able to find the right voice for this. What were the keys from your perspective, as far as getting it right? I had a ton of time to work on it. My youngest son, Pearson, he plays on two soccer teams so sometimes he’d have three-hour practices, four or five nights a week. They were about a 45-minute drive to get there. So I’d put the poor kid through having to listen to that every time we went back and forth. Then, I’d sit there during soccer practices, I’d break out my laptop and I would type in the lyrics, move them around to how he phrased them. If he came in late, I’d have to scoot it to the right. I would spell the words the way [Sinatra] pronounced them. You know, when he’d say “appealed,” he’d say it almost like he was saying it with a “uld.” So I would spell it like he pronounced it, then I’d make notes on the exact moments he’d add vibrato or not, where he would take breaths – every little nuance I could think of that could help me get closer to being able to sing like him. At first, I didn’t have any project in mind. I was just doing it as a fan.

Watch Mark Tremonti's 'I've Got You Under My Skin' Video

I went down the rabbit hole. I remember this one night in particular. I just had the chills watching all of these old videos. I think it was a video I saw of the song, “It’s You.” He played it back in 1944. It was like a switch went off. I was like, “You know, I want to do this.” I’m singing along and going, “I think I can pull this off.” I just dove deep. From that moment on, I was obsessed. You know, my wife and kids were like, “How many of these movies are you going to watch? How many books are you going to read? How many times are you going to listen to these songs?” I wasn’t listening to rock, metal, nothing. This was all I was listening to; this was all I was reading about. This was all I was obsessing about for a couple of years.

He had a very specific approach to his craft. Even with people like Dean Martin and any of his peers you might want to mention, Frank made what he did all of his own. Until I really did my research, I didn’t know that he didn’t write his lyrics, he didn’t write his songs. You know, a lot of these old guys, it was just these great songwriters that wrote for most of them. But his take on them, to me, is the best. You know, you see all of these different people singing these songs, to me, I don’t know if I’ve ever found another version of one of these songs done better than Frank Sinatra did it. To me, he’s the benchmark, the guy to go to and the guy that you say, “How should I sing this song? Listen to Frank.” He’s the one that did it, in my opinion, the best. You know, one thing he was born with is this great voice. You know it and you can hear it. I think he was never a musician, per se. He didn’t play an instrument. So I think he always tried to just keep up with these guys. These guys were masters of their craft and he was just a vocalist. I think he tried to impress the band guys by messing with his time, his phrasing and what he did with changing lyrics in a song from night to night or just scatting. That’s one of the toughest things when you’re learning some of his stuff. He’s a master of using that space. Like, if you listen to “Send In the Clowns,” that’s such a sparse song. There’s so much space in there. He fills it so perfectly. That was one of the songs I wanted to do, but it would be very, very difficult to do that song because it’s not on a click track and you’re in dead space. The vocals pretty much dictate the pace of that song. The closest we came on this record was “Nancy (With the Laughing Face).” That song was tough because there’s a lot of space, there’s a lot of tempo changes within the song. But like I said, “Send In the Clowns” would have even been harder. A song like that just shows you how much of a master at creating these ebbs and flows throughout the songs with the vocal, he was just a master of that.

I love that the challenge aspect of all of this is right there in the name of the charity. What do you hope that your peers and also the people who hear this album will take away from what you're doing here? I just hope they enjoy the record. I hope it inspires them to donate to help raise money for a good cause. I hope they see how much it means to me and my family and how much the process means to everybody involved in this, and how we’re all in. The fuel that kept us going was the fact that we wanted to do this for a good cause. It just feels good all around. So I hope people take away the passion behind it and spread the word. In a perfect world, I want to get the Take a Chance for Charity thing rolling. You know, get people tagging it and people asking their friends – anybody with a platform to do this. It could be a weatherman at a local news station. It could be an actor; it could be an athlete. It could be anybody. I want people to get in there and feel the passion hopefully they see that I had, and the people surrounding me that helped me see this through. Feel that passion themselves to help us keep pushing it.

Was there anybody who tried to talk you out of doing this? You know, it’s the exact opposite. I thought I’d be thinking like you’re thinking now. I thought maybe people would be like, “Ah, just stop doing the Sinatra thing, I’m not into it. Get back to the rock and the metal stuff.” But I remember getting on Don Jamieson ’s show during COVID . He asked, “During COVID, have you gotten into anything different?” – because Rob Halford was getting into painting paintings and stuff. I was like, “Well, to be honest with you, I’ve really been diving into Frank Sinatra. It’s just something I’m pretty keyed into that right now.” He’s like, “Wow, we need a Tremonti Does Sinatra record,” and I’m like, “Wow, if you only knew!” So you have this metal guy who is saying, “Yes, do the Sinatra thing.” I think the big band thing, you know, a metal fan might not like a pop song, they might not like it if I did pop stuff but I think the big-band thing and the Sinatra thing is accepted and loved by everybody – because it’s everybody’s childhood. It’s everybody’s grandparents’ childhood. It’s part of our culture. Anytime I’ve said it to somebody, they’ve been like, “What, wow, that’s great!” It’s never been, “Why are you going to do that?”

What can people expect from the live show that you've got coming up? Every time we put out an album with my other bands, we do a listening party where people will fly in from around the world and hear the record before it comes out, and then we’ll do a performance. We’re already putting [that] together. The key guys from the band that recorded the record, not all of them can make it down from Chicago. You know, some of these guys are in their late 70s and it’s tough to have them [travel]. But you know, Mike Smith will come down and Dan McIntyre will come down. Then we’ll get some of Frank Sinatra’s Southeast band members to come in and fill in. The rest that aren’t from Sinatra’s band, I think we’re going to get from some of the guys who play for Disney World. We’ll have some top-notch musicians in there. I’ve never done this. You know, I did it live with them in the room, but I’ve never done it in front of an audience. My biggest silly fear in the whole thing is not the singing. It’s what to do in those bridge breaks when there’s about 30 or 40 seconds of just somebody doing a trombone solo or something else, where I’m just standing there without a guitar on. [Laughs.] I’m not trying to be Frank Sinatra’s persona. I’m trying to be myself and sing, you know, pay my respects to Frank Sinatra and his vocal approach. But I’m not putting on the hat and rolling the dice on stage and pretending to be Frank Sinatra. I just don’t think I could pull that off. I’d look silly doing it.

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