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Jimmy Roselli

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Vocalist

The Resume

    (December 26, 1925-June 30, 2011)
    Born in Hoboken, New Jersey
    Birth name was Michael John Roselli
    Recorded 35 albums
    Recorded the songs 'There Must Be A Way,' 'When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New,' 'Little Pal,' 'Buona Sera' and 'Mala Femmina'
    Subject of the biography 'Making the Wiseguys Weep: The Jimmy Roselli Story'

Why he might be annoying:

    He began singing in saloons when he was ten.
    He spent his entire career overshadowed by fellow Hoboken-born Italian-American crooner Frank Sinatra.
    He turned down a part in 'The Godfather, Part II' and appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and 'Live with Regis and Kathie Lee' because he felt he was not offered enough money.
    Similarly, he walked out of a seven-show contract with The Ed Sullivan Show after three appearances; when Sullivan admonished, 'It's about exposure, Jimmy,' he replied, 'I got so much exposure, I'm gonna catch pneumonia.'
    His biggest single peaked at #93 on Billboard's pop chart. (Maybe he could have used more exposure after all.)
    At one point, he was reduced to selling his records from the trunk of his car in Manhattan's Little Italy.
    Plans for John Travolta to portray him in a biopic never got off the ground.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His mother died two days after giving birth to him and his father abandoned the family.
    At thirteen, he won first prize in the radio show 'Major Bowe's Amateur Hour.'
    He earned a Bronze Star during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.
    His fans suggest that the reason his career never took off was that, unlike Sinatra, he refused to suck up to the mob.
    Songwriter Sammy Cahn said 'He has a larger, richer voice than Frank. He's a miracle.'
    Martin Scorsese featured his song 'Mala Femmina' twice in the fim 'Mean Streets.'
    Travolta passed on portraying him in order to make the notorious 'Battlefield Earth,' so one suspects there have been some regrets on the actor's side.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 15 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 86 Votes: 56.98% Annoying