The founder of The Lettermen, Tony Butala, will be flying out to southern California this weekend to be part of a ‘huge’ honor. The Manitowoc resident tells Seehafer News. “We were very, very thrilled and delighted. The Chamber of Commerce of Hollywood, California chooses only who they feel are the best celebrities to represent the music industry and to get a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.”
Butala and the Lettermen will be in Hollywood on Monday for the unveiling of their star on the Walk-of-Fame. Tony reminisces a bit when he talks of the formation of what became of the internationally-known singing group, 62-years ago this month. “Mike Barnett and myself and Tommy Dressel, we auditioned for a new review that was going on in Las Vegas and we made the review. That turned out to be The Lettermen’s first job on February 28th, 1958 at the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
Butala says, their beautiful blend of voices was very different from the rock bands of the 1960s and that helped grow their popularity.
We also asked Tony to name his favorite Lettermen song, and he chose their very first hit in late 1960 early ’61 that he heard announced on a California radio station, “And now ladies and gentlemen here is our hit record of the week. A brand new song by a brand new group. They’d start playing “The Way You Look Tonight” and as they played it on the air I got so overwhelmed because I knew that my life was about to change. I had to pull over at the side of the freeway and I cried my eyes out.”
Tony Butala says The Lettermen will be releasing their ‘76th’ album in several weeks.