Considered "the most Sicilian of Belgian singers", Frédéric François begins a new tour at the end of October.

But he is not the only singer of international stature to have his roots in the small Sicilian village of Lercara Friddi.

INTERVIEW

It is a small village located more than 40km south east of Palermo, Lercara Friddi, which was the birthplace of Frédéric François.

But it is also the land of origin of another monument of the song, Franck Sinatra, as explained on Europe 1 the singer, who starts at the end of October a European tour with three dates at the Olympia. 

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"Frank Sinatra is the child of the country"

In the summer of 2019, Frédéric François returned to his native village to attend the installation of a commemorative plaque in his honor on the facade of the house where he was born.

"There is us," he says of his family.

“But before us there was the Frank Sinatra commemorative plaque. His father and grandfather were born one street away from me. We were baptized in the same church. Frank Sinatra, of course, was born in May 1915 in Hoboken (United States), but he is the native of the country. "

Beyond their common roots, Frédéric François nurtures a real passion for his American-Sicilian elder.

"He was my father's age and we never had the opportunity to meet. But he is part of my life," says the singer.

"I have all his books, I have everything. I know his whole story by heart."

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The unexpected portrait ... of Frédéric François

Despite this passion, Frédéric François had to wait until the summer of 2019 and his return to his native land to discover the origin of Frank Sinatra's family.

"We never knew that he came from our village, because he said he came from Catania and Palermo. But in fact, the whole Sinatra family was well born in Lercara Friddi", rejoices the singer. .