Jack Valentine, Project Liaison Director and founder of TopTributes has a history in event management. With an impeccable pedigree in live entertainment, Jack was London's first solo Sinatra tribute, so nobody knows the business better - And experience has taught him that entertainment is about much more than just hiring a room, a band, and hoping for the best. Jack's clients now benefit from this time-served experience which Jack provides in the form of complete entertainment and events packages, all available from just one phone number, the booking office of the TopTributes Organization.

We caught up with Jack for a breathless interview in the London Savoy Hotel's Skyline Bar where he was 'taking five' between rehearsals for another of his annual 'Evening with Sinatra' tribute shows in the Savoy ballroom. In illustration of the entire ethos and complete service which Jack's company TopTributes famously provides, Jack doesn't just sing at these concerts - He personally books the Savoy, fixes the entire 35-piece orchestra, markets and runs the event, and sells all the tickets himself, resulting in a packed house of screaming, swooning Sinatra fans who have just enjoyed a five course dinner prior to the show, the catering also fixed by - guess who?

It's a total event management package, typical of the logistical entertainment solutions he offers to all clients wanting an event with bling in spades...

It's early, but Jack Valentine offers me a drink and
I plump for a Martini. Jack downs an orange juice but holds it like a scotch. He lounges on the bar stool in the kind of retro golf-style slacks and crisp polo shirt we'd have seen Frank Sinatra sporting between takes at the Capitol studio in the fifties, but aside from Jack's outward profession as a Frank tribute act, there's something in him that's actually more of the Peter Lawford - The Rat-Packer with his feet on firm ground, the one who always knew when it was time to sober up and do the deal. Consort to immortal blonde Hollywood megastars, brother-in-law to the President.
A fixer...
But Jack Valentine swaps Lawford's quiet Lake Tahoe menace for an upbeat personal choreography of body language that hints he is a man who lives well, and magnanimously wants you to live well too. His manner seems to say “Hey, I'm having fun, come over and join me”.

“It's not about just hoping for the best” says Jack. “In planning your event, whether it's a wedding, stag, birthday party or corporate launch, you've gotta want to BE the best! Know that you're worth it, and then plan on that basis - On the day, you'll obviously dress to impress - So why stop there? To 'impress' means 'to leave an impression'. And when we plan an event for you, we aim to leave your guests and participants with an impression - a memory of an impressive event."

"The technology, leisure and buoyantly creative economy of today allows us to do things that once upon a time were only enjoyed by Hollywood movie stars and royalty - But this is 2008, and we can now deliver services that make your fantasies become real.”

Backing up, you're young enough for the punk generation, so why choose Sinatra as a career inspiration?

“Frank's known as 'The Voice', and for good reason. I was seventeen when I first sat down and listened to him properly, and was just hooked!"

"Frank was a winner and still at the top of his game in his 70's when most punk bands were coming and going like yesterday's yoghurt. "They were just pop - Sinatra was permanent, and a professional worth learning from. Actually my mother used to lambast me for even listening to Frank, let alone singing like him. She told me Bing Crosby was much more wholesome but that Sinatra clearly came from a pretty bad family because when he sang he bent the notes and lagged behind the beat.”

Jack ignored his mother's cautionary lessons in musical taste and was so struck by 'Ol Blue Eyes that he began busking on West End streets, not for money, but just for the fun of it, to feel the buzz at the pointed end of live entertainment. That, and an early face-to-face encounter with his idol instinctively taught him a lot about showbiz which he says still apply to the business today, and always will do.

Valentine was just eighteen when he staked out the stage door of the The Festival Hall to see Sinatra exit after one of his rare London appearances in 'the autumn of his life':

“120 seconds from the applause and the door opened. Two big men emerged and opened the door of a Mercedes that had stealthily appeared. A third, shorter man in silhouette preceded them and got into the car immediately. As it swept forward the light in the back went on and Frank Sinatra looked right into my eyes with his own blazing blue lamps, and in that instant I understood how he had made it. The Conquerer. From then the dream ignited. I sang in pubs at every opportunity, I was driven, fearless."

"My first gigs were terrible, duff musicians in pubs and clubs at fifteen quid for each bandmember. Didn't even keep me in cigarettes. But then, in the late eighties, karaoke came to the UK from Japan, and I immediately saw how this could revolutionise the live entertainment industry. So I sorted myself out some backing tracks and got my first break in a Balham pub performing as a solo artist. It was a knockout, and overnight I quadrupled my fee, and that was just the beginning. I was the first solo Sinatra tribute. Nobody else was doing it.”

Our Interview continues
on Page 2...