
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 2, 1990                   TAG: 9005020694
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: STONINGTON, CONN.                                LENGTH: Short

TONY-WINNING SINGER, LAS VEGAS HEADLINER SERGIO FRANCHI DIES

Sergio Franchi, a Tony-winning singer with operatic ambitions who had a hit with "O' Sole Mio" and crooned in TV commercials for the Plymouth Volare in the 1970s, has died of cancer.

The Italian-born tenor died Tuesday at his estate. He never publicly revealed his age, although some sources list it as 57.

Franchi performed around the country and was a headliner in Las Vegas in the 1960s and '70s, blending popular standards and operatic arias.

He made 25 albums and had such hits as "O' Sole Mio," "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Memory." In the mid-1970s, Franchi crooned, "Volare, ohhhhhhhh," in commercials for the Volare automobile.

He received a Tony Award for his performance in the Broadway musical "Nine," in which he played a director.

by CNB