In 1997, the luxury ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II was slicing through tropical waters en route from Bali to Singapore. On board, Oscar-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch had just completed a ship-to-shore phone call to Barbra Streisand and strolled out to the deck to greet his vocalist, tenor Tom Paterra, who was resting on a chaise.
Tony Tye, Post-GazetteTom Paterra, who grew up in North Charleroi, is celebrating 30 years in show business with a benefit concert Sunday for the Mon Valley YMCA. Now living on Mount Washington, Paterra toured for years with Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians.
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"I started laughing, and Marvin said, 'What's so funny?' " Paterra recalled. "I told him, 'I'm lying here on the QE2, you're Marvin Hamlisch, you just got off the phone with Barbra Streisand and I'm a kid from Charleroi."
It's the stuff of dreams, but for Paterra it's also an enduring moment in a career that spans three decades.
In addition to his work with Hamlisch, Paterra's life on stage includes 11 years as the lead tenor for Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, an appearance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops and a three-year stint as national vocalist for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He has sung for the likes of Lauren Bacall, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and legions of Steelers, Pirates and Penguins fans. He also is one of eight singers who records choral pieces for New York's Alfred Publishing.
On Sunday, Paterra will celebrate his life in show business with a concert at Charleroi Area High School to benefit the Mon Valley YMCA, his first appearance "back home" in 10 years. The show will feature the Joe Campus Orchestra along with singers Bernadette DeVault, David Crisci, Claudia Benack, Paterra's brother John, and Len Thomas, former star of the Fred Waring show.
Paterra said the concert is his way of thanking all the people who supported his career.
"I'll be paying tribute to everybody who had an influence on my life," said Paterra, who lives on Mount Washington.
Although Paterra, 49, marks professional time from the age of 18 when he started getting paid as a singer, his career as a vocalist began years earlier.
His father, Frank, was a singer and band leader whose Frank Paterra Orchestra and Stuart Arnold Orchestra were featured locally on radio and made regular appearances at Pittsburgh's top nightclubs, including the old Twin Coaches in Belle Vernon and the Holiday House in Monroeville.
Young Tom Paterra frequently took to the stage to sing songs such as "Mack the Knife" and "Impossible," charming audiences.
Tragedy struck the family in 1968, when Paterra's mother, Virginia, died, leaving Frank to raise 12-year-old Tom and his brother, John, who was three years older. Paterra's sister, Patricia, was married by then and living out of state. An elder brother, Frank Jr., was headed to Vietnam.
But just three years after Virginia's death, Paterra was orphaned when his father died, too.
Frank Jr., then 23 and returned from the war, became guardian to his younger brother, by then a sophomore in high school. Along with brother John, the three set up housekeeping in their parents' North Charleroi home.
A neighbor, Paige Palfrey, called each morning to make sure Tom got up for school on time. And Paterra can still rattle off the names of his friends' parents who welcomed him at their dinner tables. At Charleroi High School, teachers encouraged him to channel youthful energy and angst into positive pursuits such as singing, and Paterra said, "they literally saved my life."
In the summer following his father's death, Paterra paid his own way to a music summer camp offered by Fred Waring, known as "the man who taught America to sing."
After Paterra graduated from high school in 1973, Waring offered him a scholarship for that season's camp. When summer ended, Waring gave him a job.
"I stayed 11 years. I became his lead tenor. We traveled all over the country in a big bus. It was all one-night stands. We played in every major concert hall from Heinz Hall to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion."
Waring died in 1984, and Paterra returned to Western Pennsylvania, where he sang regularly at restaurants such as D'Imperio's in Monroeville and the Shiloh Inn on Mount Washington, produced and performed in shows locally and booked appearances around the country.
In 1996, Paterra's career was stalled until he took to the stage with the Waco Symphony Orchestra. His rendition of Hamlisch's "One Song" drew a standing ovation and rave reviews.
To this day, he can recite the review.
"They wrote, 'Marvin Hamlisch would be hard-pressed to top Tom Paterra's performance of his 'One Song,' " Paterra said. "I'll never forget it."
The never-shy Paterra, who had previously auditioned for the composer, sent Hamlisch the review and a taped copy of his version of the song.
Months later, he got a response.
Hamlisch needed a soloist and wanted to hear him sing.
"He said, 'If you can do this song, I'll hire you for the job,' " Paterra said.
Paterra flew to New York on a Tuesday, said a prayer at St. Patrick Cathedral and walked 43 blocks to Hamlisch's apartment.
On the piano sat the score for Streisand's movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces."
"I thought he wanted me to sing with Barbra," Paterra said, chuckling.
That's not what Hamlisch wanted, but after hearing Paterra belt out "One Song," he asked him to go to California.
Four days later, Paterra was on the West Coast, and for the next year he would travel with Hamlisch, being introduced to audiences around the world by the composer as, "My friend Tom Paterra."
In 1998, Paterra joined Hamlisch on stage once again, performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops in a show titled, "America the Beautiful."
"Mr. Paterra is one of the really local talents we enjoy working with in Pittsburgh," Hamlisch said. "We've had a good time together."
Today, Paterra continues to perform and he serves on the advisory board for Fred Waring's America, an organization devoted to continuing Waring's philosophy of music and keeping music education alive in the schools.
"I've been blessed. I really have been blessed to have traveled this path and met the people I have met," Paterra said. "But it's the people of the Mon Valley who are truly the fabric of who I am. I hope I can do this for another 30 years."
First Published: April 1, 2004, 5:00 a.m.