JIMMY ANGEL: Making a comeback

1950s singer looks to enter the spotlight again with a Las Vegas act, new Hollywood biographical movie about life with mob

Jenna Dosch/ViewJimmy Angel, left, a 1950s teenage heart throb, still has a talent with the ladies, as he stands at Brendan?s Irish Pub at The Orleans with Sally Z, co-host of karaoke. Photos by Jenna Dosch/ViewTop, after spending 22 years in Toyko, ?50s singer Jmmy Angel has returned and now lives in Spring Valley. Bottom, with portfolio in hand, Angel is looking for a venue to perform in and says he knows he can fill the seats. Advertisement

It was an unusually warm summer day in the late 1950s when James Tyler walked into a record store in rural Memphis, in search of any welcome distraction that might divert his thoughts from the financial woes that plagued his every waking moment. It was a small and seemingly inconsequential choice that would change his life forever.

The handsome and charismatic Tyler browsed through the stacks of records, trying to plot his next move in a job search that had been never ending.

It was then that infamous New York crime boss Joseph Colombo approached him.

"I walked into that store James Tyler and left Jimmy Angel," the now 72-year-old performer says with a smile. "He told me that he could make me into a teen idol, and it would be money. I told my mom then, 'We need a job. This man says if I do what I'm told, our problems are over.' So, I signed on, and Joe was my manager from then on out."

Angel has had 10 gold records to his name and hits such as "Teenager in Love." He's been signed by three separate labels throughout his career, been at the center of a federal investigation and mob war and has reached legendary status in Japan.

It's a pretty unbelievable story, with a potential narrative that would make any studio head salivate. The story arch contains everything a great writer and director would need to create a cinematic hit: intrigue, sex, violence, love, betrayal, murder, perseverance and redemption -- this is the stuff from which Hollywood blockbusters are made.

That's probably why there recently has been some Tinseltown buzz concerning the former teenybopper and talks of a feature film about his life.

When Los Angeles screenwriter Ron Jordan heard the life story of former teen idol, Italian mafia poster boy Jimmy Angel, he viewed the topic with more than a little skepticism.

"You hear a lot of stories in this town, most of which turn out to be fabricated or spiced up versions of the truth," Jordan said. "So, when I had this small 72-year-old man sitting across from me telling me all these outrageous stories, I didn't believe him right away."

Jordan did some digging after his initial meeting with Angel and found that not only was the former made-man on the up and up, he had recently returned to the United States from a 22-year sabbatical in Japan -- which in the world of Jimmy Angel, is code for hiding out from the feds.

"After Colombo was murdered, the FBI came down on Jimmy pretty hard, and he was given $200 and a plane ticket to Japan by friends," Jordan said. "That's where he stayed and performed for years. The Japanese love him. He has sold out Tokyo Dome a number of times."

For decades, Angel was pushed and packaged by Colombo and his thugs, giving the one-time Yankee outfielder a taste of what fame could really be like.

"For years, I didn't know what it felt like to be told no," Angel admits as he fingers the pages of a memento album filled with articles and photos from his past.

"Not with girls, food, limos, swank places to stay. I was the top cat."

Screenwriters are in the early stages of production for the feature film, which according to Jordan, may be directed by Quentin Tarantino. For now, Jordan and long-time producer friend Dan Brennan are working on a documentary about Angel's life -- an 8-minute clip that they hope will dazzle studio executives.

"This guy has really led some life," Brennan said. "He was pushed as a teen idol, but there's a reason you've never heard of him. He made records and they were on jukeboxes nationwide. But, he was more of a paper idol. He was taken advantage of by a crime boss who made money off of him, but never really delivered what he promised."

Angel, a Spring Valley resident, has been looking to book a showroom in Sin City for the last three months, but to date, his efforts have gone unnoticed.

"I keep telling these cats that I can pack a room," Angel says with confidence. "There is a book coming out about my life. A movie is being made. I am not just another guy coming in off the street to try and get a gig. I'm doing what I've done all of my life. I'm a performer. It's all I know."

According to Brennan, the real triumph of the Angel story is that he survived at all.

"He's still trying to make it work today," Brennan said. "Even after all of the ways that he's been wronged and used, he hasn't given up on his dream. He's from another era. Jimmy Angel is the 1950s."