For the last 13 years Oakland-based vocalist Jefferson Bergey has been a musical chameleon for-hire across the Bay Area. Now he’s taking on his most challenging musical costume yet, covering arguably the greatest singer of the 20th Century, Frank Sinatra. Sinatra may have been the greatest singer, but he was far from a perfect man. Bergey is pulling no punches as he tells sordid stories of the singer’s life against the musical backdrop of some of the best-known songs of the Great American Songbook.
Bergey has spent the past decade zig-zagging through multiple genres of music and comedy. He’s been channeling the voice of Gregg Allman in Freestone Peaches: A Tribute to the Allman Brothers Band for a decade. As a solo act and live-looper, he’s negotiated thousands of covers in an anything-goes show at Belle Cora in North Beach since the pandemic. He’s a featured vocalist with Jazz Mafia’s Grateful Brass and will soon be taking on the David Byrne role in a Talking Heads tribute in the fall. As a vocalist and bandleader he’s lead hundreds of bands on private and corporate events all over the Bay Area as well as corporate events in Barcelona, Hawaii, Cancun, Dallas, and Arizona. Based on a handbook he wrote inspired by his dynamic and colorful experiences at the helm as a wedding singer, Bergey conducts training seminars all over the west coast where he teaches young bandleaders the ropes on running a tight ship under the pressure of high-end private events.
When asked why Sinatra, Bergey says “It feels like everything I’ve done professionally over the past decade including the music-comedy, the gameshow hosting, MC-ing large events, and singing music from the past 75 years has funneled me into finding the music of Sinatra and the Rat Pack. The music has pulled me all of the way in. There’s something so classic and timeless about the songs and the way that he sang them. But then I started to learn about his life and that sent me down a rabbit hole that I’m still digging deeper into and I’m eager to share the stories and my discoveries with an audience.”
He also warned that this is not a classic, note-for-note tribute. “I’m not doing a Frank Sinatra impression. I won’t be wearing a fedora or tuxedo. If I quote him, it will be in context of a story I’m telling about the man and these will not be well-known stories! I’m singing his songs, but I’m also telling tales that are not the normal, bland fanfare and publicist-approved points that would introduce him on a prime time television show in the 60’s. This show will present both the bright accolades and the dark sins of a nuanced artist while showcasing the songs that make him undeniable for any generation.”
Bergey will be backed by some of the best of the Bay Area including Andrew Dixon on tenor sax and all three of the incredible Hogan Brothers. Expect some very-special musical guests as well.
