Fifties crooner returns - still singing at 69

Forty years ago, Maltese crooner Tarcisio (Tossie) Tabone emigrated to Australia. He has returned to Malta on occasion but he spent some time in summer visiting his youngest sister, Jane Aquilina.

When I caught up with him, he was singing with his lifelong friend Val Valente and his band at the Bridge Bar at the Radisson SAS Bay Point Resort. Although he is just short of his 70th birthday, his voice is as steady as ever and it is easy to pick out why he stood out even as a choir boy at St Sebastian parish in Qormi.

The second of four children, three boys and a girl, Tossie recalled how he always had a good voice. Apart from his sister, only his younger brother Charlie, who emigrated to Melbourne 45 years ago, survives. His elder brother died in the United States 20 years ago.

Tossie grew up in the music scene of the late Forties, keeping abreast of all the local musicians of that time, particularly his cousin saxophonist Joe Almerigo, who ran his own seven-piece band.

It was Joe who introduced Tossie to the stage for the very first time and Tossie recalled how, when he sang in his first gigs as a professional, he was paid £2 10s. a week. He was a great fan of Frankie Laine, with his greatest hit Jezebel.

Tossie soon started touring the island with leading bands, like Johnny Vassallo, Vinny Vella, Oscar Lucas and Jimmy Dowling. Jimmy took him on board with a contract for the Phoenicia Hotel. The venues he sang at included Gloria House, the Chalet, Rockyvale and the Queenshall.

In 1951, aged 18, he decided to go to Windsor in Ontario, Canada, but, feeling homesick, he returned to Malta some 10 months later. "In Malta I was already somebody. There I was a nobody - and I was not even old enough to enter a pub!"

Then in 1955 he went to the UK, having worked in various pubs and other clubs, when he was spotted by an agent, who offered him a summer season at Pontin's Holiday Club on the Isle of Wight, with the seven-piece Glynn Davies band.

He returned to Malta with the intention to form his own band, when he met Val Valente and, with pianist Frank Camilleri, bass player Nonny Almerigo and drummer Eric Xuereb, formed a new jazz quintet called The Freshmen. Their debut was at Rendezvous Des Amis, a new club in Paola.

After a spell Tossie moved over with his trio to the Kenner Club in Valletta. In 1960 Tony formed a new band called the Tossie Tabone 5, when he won a contract to open the new Villa Rosa Beach Club in St George's Bay, then owned by Bailey's of UK.

Tossie stayed on at the Villa Rosa Beach Club up to September, 1963, when he decided to join his relatives in Australia. He called on Val Valente, and introduced him as the new bandleader in his stead. Tossie and Val parted at Luqa Airport.

When Tossie landed for the first time in Melbourne, he introduced himself to the local scene with a new stage name, Tony Paris, and started singing at gigs with various bands. "It worked very well for me," he recalled.

Looking at the competition and decided to have a double act, taking bass guitar lessons for almost a year. Then he joined another band doubling on bass and vocals, and never looked back. "It was two for the price of one!"

The band went on to perform at the Federal Hotel at Essendon Airport. Then Tossie made his debut as a solo cabaret act, performing in most clubs all over Melbourne.

In 1967 he won a contract for a season at a tourist resort on Hayman Island in Queensland, after which he returned to the scene in Melbourne because he said he missed the city. That same year he won a contract to open the new 5 Continents Restaurant, again for Federal Hotels, this time at the Savoy Plaza until 1968, when he took on another season at Hayman Island.

On his return to Melbourne, he moved to the Cockpit Restaurant at Melbourne Airport, returning to Hayman Island for more seasonal contracts. On his return this time Tony joined an Italian band at the Stagecoach Restaurant.

In 1970 Tossie decided to form a new five-piece band and moved on to Brisbane, Queensland, to open the top restaurant in the State, the first ever revolving venue in Australia. A year later he returned to Melbourne at a new club called Los Gitanos.

1972 was the best year ever for Tossie. He won a major one-year contract in Hong Kong, at the newly opened Excelsior Hotel, owned by Trusthouse Forte, performing at a venue on the 38th floor. He then returned to Melbourne and went on to perform with two different 17-piece big bands, where he is still currently enjoying his long-term established career.

Tossie has two daughters in Australia, Candy and Nicole, and five grandchildren. He retired from the music scene in 1975 but is still active, apart from doing charity work for the Ambulance Service.