Joey Travolta. Don Swayze. Casey Affleck. These names do not exactly inspire respect and admiration from even the most celebrity-obsessed, pop-culture fan. They're also-rans, siblings of much bigger stars who've never been able to move out from under the shadows of their famous brothers. For every Randy Quaid or Joseph Fiennes, stars who can hold their own with their big-time bros, there's someone like Frank Stallone. The younger brother of that guy who played Rocky and Rambo, Stallone's been plugging away at his own showbiz career of full-time musician and sometime actor for nearly 40 years. He had one top-10 hit in 1983—the unfortunately-titled "Far From Over," from his brother's film Staying Alive—but most of his career has been as the answer to questions in Trivial Pursuit.
Stallone is unflappable, though, with a new album of big-band standards called In Love in Vain out on his own Simba Records, appearances on VH1's ubiquitous I Love the '80s Strikes Back, and his first official Vegas visit, opening for legendary insult comic Don Rickles.
Are you afraid Rickles might just tear into you?
No, not at all. It's another Frank on stage with him. Before there was F.S., now there's another F.S. I think he'll have a lot of fun with me. I've known Don for a while. I've never worked with him before, but I know his son. He's a very nice guy. I just think he's funny. For me, for all the years I've been playing, this is the first time I'm playing in Las Vegas. What better way to come out than with Don Rickles?
Do you think standards albums are making a comeback? Rod Stewart's (It Had To Be You and As Time Goes By) have done really well.
It has done really well. I don't know. I don't really know. I know Rod, obviously, is a legend. He's been around forever. I don't know how Rod would have done if he was unknown with that album. I think he has a great fan base to begin with. And he's Rod Stewart. You've had some other acts that have tried it, that are trying to do it. You know, Josh, doing it sounds easier than it is. And it really isn't. Because you have to be able to sing. Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit wouldn't be doing this album. … You just can't phone it in. And I've heard some of these albums before, you know, these duet albums or these tribute albums with these newer rock groups. They're horrible. They don't understand the material at all. … No offense, I mean, I respect Bono, but on Duets with Sinatra he's atrocious. I mean, come on. It's insane. Frank, I don't know what he was thinking. He probably didn't even hear it till it came out.
I see that you've gotten great reviews for your record.
And isn't that nice? It's wonderful. I think it's really good. … In this genre, you've got to make your bones a little bit. It's kind of like country music. It's all about breakups and this. You've got to get a little dirt under your nails for this stuff.
Do you feel you've reached that level?
My hands are like buried in dirt. I'm like a construction worker at this point. I think so. I've never been married so I don't have that kind of thing, but I've gone through enough trials and tribulations just being in music for 40 years. And that's scary to me. When I think about it: My God, 40 years. That's a lifetime. That's a lifetime, and most of it, to tell you the truth, has been unsuccessful. I mean, when you think about it, it's not like Justin Timberlake and these guys. I started in '64. I didn't get my first record deal until '75. That's 11 years. I didn't get my first hit record until 1983. That's almost 20 years. And in between was kind of a guy that was unknown, that once in a while would peek up with something on the charts in the '70s, stuff like that. So it wasn't like "He's coming back." I didn't even get started. So it's had that, and bad management, and things like that, all the stories that everyone has. And they're all true, because that's what happens in the business.
Frank Stallone opens for Don Rickles at the Stardust November 20-23 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $49.95. Call 617-5577 for more info.