My Dad Ed MacNicoll's Tribute to Al Alberts (AKA Al Albertini) of The Four Aces , His Good Friend

My Dad Ed MacNicoll's Tribute to Al Alberts (AKA Al Albertini) of
The Four Aces , His Good Friend...

My friend has died..

I am proud to say that I was a member of Al and Stella Alberts
extended family. Al was a great singer and man.
I first meet Al in Atlantic City, NJ in 1976. He and Stella
living in Cape May. He was performing there and after I met
and talked to him for hours. He was so great to talk to, he
loved to talk about the past. We talked about Philly, and also
about Chambersburg and the "Italian gravies." He love it. We
became friends and corresponded by telephone and mail.
When I was being sworn in as National President of the National
Association of Independent Fee Appraisers in 1999, Al was gracious
enough to take the time to come and put on his signature show for
me at the Land Mark Hotel in Philadelphia across from Channel 6
where he had a long-running kids' talent show on Channel 6 after
his successful singing career.
The night that Al was to perform for me, His wife, Stella was
rushed to the Deborah Hospital with a heart attack. But Al stayed
(He was a hour late) but he performed for me and I knew that he
was hurting bad, but you would have never known it. He was fabulous
that night. Stella was going to be O.K. he told me and she said
to finish.
Two years later Al and Stella moved to Port Charlotte, Fla.,
We chatted over the telephone, by e-mail after that.
As a teenager I grew with Al Alberts and the Four Aces, remember
his songs that won Oscars for the movies. They were all on the hit
parade "Three Coins in a Fountain," "Stranger in Paradise," and the
title song to the film "Love Is a Many-Splendor Thing." Al wrote
"Tell me Why" my other favorites were "Perfida", "Garden in the Rain",
"It's No sin", "I'm Yours", "A Woman in love" and "Mister sandman" ,
of course "On the way to Cape May"
I remember Al told why he and the Four Aces parted. He said it was
during the British-rock invasion that was changing the American
music scene. He said that they traveled to Europe, and all over
and there fans who were willing to pay and stood in lines, business
was good. But they lived in hotels. Al then had the idea about
the Showcase. They were raising their two boys and he didn't
want to be on the road anymore." He has two son's Al and Chris.
Young Al looks like him I think.
Al's dad always wanted him to record an Italian CD and Al finally
did after his dad had passed away.
I will miss Al, he was a showman and if the younger folks were
to take the time, listen to his voice, the harmony and the words,
they would know what you, dear reader and I know. The music of
the 50's and the talent of that time will never ever return.
Like Frank, Dean, Sammy and all the others, a true singer
has passed.
In my opinion, Al was never the kind of guy that thought
himself better, Stella and Al were like the folks you and
I knew in the burg.

God Bless Him.


NOTE: My Dad and Al pictured above.