Jimmy Valentine said he lost his balance and fell off a step ladder as a bee flew by his nose.
After landing on his head, he said, he miraculously discovered he could sing well.
“All of a sudden, I had a voice,” he said. “Just like that. I’m not sure if the fall caused it, but after I hit my head, I could sing,”
Valentine, a Port Washington resident, turned an unorthodox discovery of a singing voice into a career, performing Frank Sinatra songs at public and private events.
Sitting in a karaoke bar, watching his friends sing, Valentine said he was urged to try it himself.
“I was the only one who hadn’t sung, and everyone was looking at me,” he said.
Valentine said he sang Sinatra’s “Summer Wind,” and it came out well.
“Everyone was pretty amazed,” he said. “I was too. It was nice to actually sing well in front of people.”
Valentine, 61, said he grew up listening to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Doors, but always appreciated Sinatra because his songs have stood the test of time, something he said is the determining factor for a good song.
“My family played Frank all the time,” he said. “And it was nice to listen to him because he’s got a phenomenal voice and there’s no comparison to him. Today, there’s nobody like him, and there never will be.”
At his first professional gig at the Glen Cove Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, Valentine’s speaker system cut out, he said. But, he remembered he had all of his music on his phone, and played it without stopping, singing 20 songs back to back, he said.
“It was scary performing for the first time,” Valentine said. “And when it cut off, it got worse, but I think I finished off the gig pretty good.”
On Oct. 15, Valentine will play his first big show in Port Washington at the Landmark on Main Street.
“It’s kind of like after Sinatra got famous, he went back and did a show in Hoboken, his home town,” he said. “The crowd was restless and they threw tomatoes at him. Now I’m not saying I’m that famous at all, but I hope they don’t throw any tomatoes at me.”
Before Valentine started singing, he ran an internet business called the Company Internet Press Association, where he would get companies to advertise in weekly and daily newspapers, he said.
Then he started a company that sold phone numbers and phone services to people at a cheaper rate than the major phone companies.
“After working, I did a couple of other things, bought a boat, helped fix my mother’s house up and then discovered singing,” he said.
His mother, Valentine said, is struggling with health issues, but enjoyed watching him sing. Valentine is dedicating his Port Washington concert to his mother, he said.
“She loved it and it’s been great,” he said. “She’s not a big fan of Sinatra, but she enjoys it.”
Valentine still sings at the Glen Cove Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, but also performs at private events like weddings and parties.
He sings about two to three times per week.
“I just love singing Sinatra,” he said. “Some songs are kind of corny, but the tune and wordsmithing makes up for it. It’s a beat that doesn’t wear on you.”
