...an article by Janet Whitcomb
The Orange County Register 12/16/2005


Return with me now to the big dance at Rydell High, about to be televised on National Bandstand. Everyone's here - good girl Sandy, bad girl Rizzo, Rizzo's Pink Ladies, and all the guys, including dreamboat Danny Zuko. Plus there's National Bandstand host Vince Fontaine checking out all the chicks, and look up on the stage. Here comes special guest stars Johnny Casino and the Gambers!

After starting the dance with "Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay," a Gambler with dark curly hair steps forward and begins crooning a romantic ballad. As his soft, sweet voice serenades the slow dancing couples, Vince Fontaine ogles Pink Lady Marty Marischino and Sandy learns Danny may have a past with party crasher Cha-Cha DiGregirio from St. Bernadette's. At that point the crooner in the gold and black lame takes his song to its final crescendo and then, with an early sixties flourish, bows with the rest of the Gamblers. Suddenly they break into a foot stompin' "Hound Dog," next the fabulously kinetic "Hand Jive," followed by a spotlight rendition of "Blue Moon" which - much to the Gamblers' amusement - is upstaged by three blue-lit mooners.

Well okay. I'm reminiscing about the famous gym sequence from 1978's blockbuster film Grease. But Johnny Casino and the Gamblers? They were the real thing, Daddy-O, played by the fabulous retro singing group Sha-Na-Na. And the Sha-Na-Na member soloing on "Those Magic Changes"? Why, none other than future Rancho resident Johnny Contardo.

"We were there for just three days of shooting," Johnny recently told me. "Everyone wanted to know who had sung that song, and when I came in, John Travolta walked over, shook my hand and said 'You did a good job.' He was a big movie star and didn't have to do that; it really meant a lot to me."

Boston born Contardo and his family lived across from their parish church, so it was a natural for six-year-old Johnny to attend Mass and then sing.

He was playing in the Boston company of the musical theatre phenomenon Hair when the call came to audition for Sha-Na-Na in New York. "Quite honestly, I didn't know who they were," he admits. "They were just starting out - a hip group of college guys that Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were going to see." Later, when '60s tribute musical Grease became a Broadway sensation, Sha-Na-Na was invited to become a part of the show, "but we were already on the road doing concerts."

Johnny sang with Sha-Na-Na for 13 years, then segued into a role in Al Pacino's Scarface, and recorded two solo albums. After living in Los Angeles for a couple of decades he took an advertising job in Orange County where he met his fiancee Cheryl Valenzano. "But I got the bug to be back in the business," he says, and last year, in addition to giving private music lessons, recorded a Christmas album. Just this past October Johnny performed with fellow Grease alumnus Frankie Avalon at a Florida music festival, and he's looking forward to similar gigs in 2006.

"It's very gratifying to know I still have the pipes!" he says. In the meantime he and Cheryl enjoy living in Rancho, where in addition to giving those music lessons Johnny gardens, golfs and - true to his Italian heritage - is a great cook.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being present at a Laguna Cliffs Marriott party also attended by Cheryl and Johnny. As the karaoke session got underway, Johnny was asked to step up, which he did. And let me tell you, those "pipes" are great. Johnny's "Only The Lonely" mesmerized even the hotel help, and his "Pretty Woman" brought out shrieks and "Mercies!" from Cheryl and a number of other females in the audience.

Was I one of the shriekers? Sorry, I've been playing my Grease DVD and Johnny Contardo and Sha-Na-Na are up next!