Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993 TAG: 9301280026
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TATIANA M. WITH LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
MORE THAN A GOOD-LOOKING BOOK COVER
His deep, blue eyes danced like the brightest stars on a crisp and clear night. His wild, golden mane beckoned her.She floated toward him, the man of her dreams, longingly. His chiseled countenance eased into a broad, dreamy smile.
Flushed, she reached for his outstretched bronze hand. Their eyes locked . . .
"Fabio, can I get a picture of you standing behind me like you did with that other woman?" Michelle Agee said brazenly, after waiting her turn a second time in a line about 30-deep. "That's mainly the reason I came back."
It's Fabio - the massive Man of My Dreams, the bare-chested Prince of Midnight, the buckskin-clad Savage Thunder - in the flesh.
"There's no words to describe him. He's . . . he's everything," said 19-year-old Agee before she acquired a second Polaroid in which Fabio hugged her from behind and playfully peeked over her shoulder.
Agee dramatically grabbed at her chest: "My heart just goes pitter-patter."
But if Agee couldn't come up with words to describe the hunk who has graced the covers of more than 300 romance novels, others certainly can. In its November 1992 issue, McCall's hailed Fabio - who's dismissed his surname like Madonna and Cher - as one of "the 15 greatest men on Earth."
People magazine ranked him among the "25 most interesting people of the year." And Cosmopolitan recently dubbed the bodacious supermodel "the sexiest man in the world."
Meeting the 31-year-old Milan native can be quite overwhelming. Just ask the hundreds of women who flocked to the World of Wheels car show last week in Greensboro to steal a glimpse.
In Greensboro, Fabio hugged and kissed, as he sat at a long table next to a small pile of gifts - cards, a wrapped present, a poem written on cardboard with the authors' photos attached. He held hands and offered his knee as a seat. He called everyone honey and sweetie. He smiled and smiled. He signed and signed.
When Agee finally arrived at the steps leading to her hero, she stopped in her tracks and almost turned around. Never mind that she had driven from Martinsville, Va., that morning after spending nearly two hours choosing just the right outfit - she settled for black jeans, a purple bustier and a black blazer. Never mind that she had bought a brand new camera to capture his 6-foot-3, 220-pound, 48-inch chest persona.
"I just thought, `I can't talk to anyone so beautiful,' " Agee said.
But she did. And with his trade mark gold-ink pen, Fabio signed her Fabio bookmark, a picture of himself and a novel.
"To Michelle, The woman of my dream. Love, Fabio," he penned in the book, which had a drawing of his likeness on the cover.
Jackie Rose fanned her blushing face ardently after her encounter with Fabio.
"I got a kiss!" she told her husband of 30 years, Son Rose. "That surprised me. He said, `Come here, let me kiss you.' I didn't have to ask him."
The 50-year-old woman said she probably has every book with Fabio on the cover.
"But I thought they were just pictures, not real people," said Rose. "I didn't know there was a person like him."
The superhunk says all the adulation doesn't swell his head.
"I try to have fun and make them have fun," Fabio said, leaning in close, smiling, gazing amorously. "You can do something good for them, make their day, make a difference in their lives. It makes me happy."
Come November, Fabio won't be merely the romance novel industry's cover boy, though. Fabio will be the books' author as well. He has signed a three-book deal with Avon Books.
"I thought it was the next step," Fabio said in his suave Italian accent. "I thought it would be nice to hear a man's voice and a man's view in a genre totally dominated by women."
Fabio won't say much about his first romance novel. Only that it's about pirates in the Caribbean during a war between the Spanish and the English. Of course, he'll be the man on the cover.
Fans were impressed with Fabio. He is great looking in person, and he is a great person, too, they said.