Jack Randle selected for New Jersey Sinatra Idol Contest

Jack Randle

Jack Randle has been chosen as one of 15 contestants for the Sinatra Idol Contest in Hoboken, New Jersey in June.

Mr Randle, a technical support helpdesk worker, who grew up in Rochdale, said: “I got to love the music of Frank Sinatra because my father was a big fan and one of the only two LPs we had in the house when I was growing up in Rochdale, England in the 1960s was ‘Sinatra & The Count Basie Orchestra’.

“When my father died four years ago I sang My Way at his wake, as I had done at each of his previous birthdays. I feel every time I sing now, as I do semi-professionally these days, there is a direct connection to my dad. I love that, and it makes singing the songs he loved very special to me.”

Jack, who moved to Milton Keynes 22 years ago, still regularly visits Rochdale as many of his friends still live here and both his parents are buried here.

He said: “Rochdale has a fantastic community. My roots mean a lot to me and it’s a great place to come from.”

Mr Randle is understood to be the first Brit to be selected to enter the contest after appearing on Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme on 20 May.

He added: “I don’t even know what the prize is but I feel like I’ve won already. It’s incredibly exciting, it’s like the X-Factor for Sinatra as it’s in his home town.

“My dad would have loved it as he was very supportive of all my singing. He probably would have come with me, he would have been so pleased.” 

Mr Randle will fly out to New Jersey with his wife, Louise Roche, on 12 June.

Contestants will be judged by Director of the Hoboken Historical Museum, Bob Foster, Bill LaRosa, Director, Hudson County Cultural Affairs and Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development, author Will Friedwalk, who has written for The Wall Street Journal and Vanity Fair, and Joe DellAquila, a lifelong fan of Sinatra.

Prizes are awarded to the best ‘Sinatra style’ singers and have been donated by Dino & Harrys Steakhouse, Leo’s Grandevous, Wicked Wolf, Jos. A. Bank, Ali Baba Restaurant, Hoboken Hair.

The event is funded by a grant from The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a division of the Department of State, and administered by the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs, Thomas A. DeGise, Hudson County County Executive and Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders.