UPDATE!!! Steel guitarist Santo Farina is still with us

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 8 Jun 2016 1:23 pm

see below

I got an email from Johnny Farina who is in Spain doing a festival. It was his COUSIN Santo, not his brother.
Sandra Scott Wall

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 8 Jun 2016 2:37 pm

Not what I wanted to hear today.

"Sleepwalk" remains the iconic instrumental of the time. I remember it and Duane Eddy's "40 Miles Of Bad Road" were on the charts and all over the radio the same summer of 1959.

May as well have been 1759, considering where music has gone since then.

It seems many, maybe most, people today associate it with that Ritchie Valens movie.

Amazing that those two teenagers came up with that melody---I'd like to read how it was conceived. Maybe their uncle Mike had a lot to do with it? Talk about catching lightning in a bottle.

So little is known about Santo over the last 30 or 40 years--I was surprised to know he was back in the USA and died in Florida.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 8 Jun 2016 2:42 pm

Glad to hear it wasn't the Santo of Sleepwalk fame, but condolences to the broader family in any case.

Dale Foreman · Post by **Dale Foreman** » 8 Jun 2016 4:26 pm

Billy Easton · Post by **Billy Easton** » 8 Jun 2016 5:06 pm

Our condolences to the entire Farina family. May he Rest In Peace.

Billy and Meriul

Clyde Mattocks · Post by **Clyde Mattocks** » 8 Jun 2016 5:10 pm

He certainly gave us an iconic piece of steel guitar history that will live on. Rest in peace.

Sandra Scott-Wall · Post by **Sandra Scott-Wall** » 8 Jun 2016 7:25 pm

Santo and Johnny Farina were the 45th induction into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame in 2002. Our condolences go out to the Farina family.

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 8 Jun 2016 8:16 pm

The first time ev ever saw a steel guitar was when Santo and Johnny played Sleepwalk on American Bandstand.

I remember watching them and thinking "that looks easy." Little did I know.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 9 Jun 2016 2:20 am

I wish I had known he lived in The Villages. I play a show there every Monday evening. I would have liked to have met him.

manny escobar · Post by **manny escobar** » 9 Jun 2016 5:43 am

I had started learning lap steel before Sleepwalk in 1958/59. Then I heard it on a local radio station for a long time. The R.I. DJ, Joe Thomas also loved it but the record never went anywhere. Then one night the elated DJ announced that Allen Freed played it and the rest is history. I was in a rock and roll band playing old standards on steel and singing rockabilly. As a new player it took everything I had to learn that song.

Sandra Scott-Wall · Post by **Sandra Scott-Wall** » 9 Jun 2016 7:13 am

I got an email from Johnny Farina who is in Spain doing a festival. It was his COUSIN Santo, not his brother.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 9 Jun 2016 9:09 am

I was suspicious about this, and that's why I did not respond. There wasn't a word about it on line so I was skeptical. The good news is... Santo Lives!

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 9 Jun 2016 10:53 am

I'm glad it's not true!

I had an experience yesterday where I was listening to a track from my record which was heavily influenced by Santo, and I was really proud of the of the fact that I had, to my ears, captured his spirit. When I had read later on that he had passed, I went numb. Long live Santo!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 9 Jun 2016 11:15 am

Whew! For once, I'm glad to be the purveyor of misinformation though condolences are still due to the family.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 9 Jun 2016 11:21 am

I'm glad it's not true. I was under the impression, by the way, that Santo had moved to Italy many years ago, and I've never heard anything about him returning, although I've made many inquiries.

Cartwright Thompson · Post by **Cartwright Thompson** » 9 Jun 2016 2:33 pm

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 11 Jun 2016 2:02 pm

Wonderful. So let's get to the question that I've asked many times on the Forum but no-one has ever answered. Did he play and record steel after he moved to Italy? Did he return to the U.S.? Is he still playing? Where can I find recordings of his playing after he and his brother split up?

They're not just academic questions. I've been a fan of theirs for as long as I can remember and have most of their LPs and CDs. When I was a teenager I used to buy all their 45s as soon as they came out.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 11 Jun 2016 3:25 pm

The duo was a big hit in Italy in the early 1970s. They sold a lot of records there and they're in the Hall of Fame in Italy. Very little is known about the breakup, the circumstances. As far as I know, Santo never played after the breakup and he stayed in Italy. The last S&J album was released in 1977 according to an online discography. Johnny has released a few albums in recent years. I read somewhere that Santo retired from the music biz after S&J. That would be over 35 years ago. He started young. He was only 22 when he recorded Sleep Walk.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 11 Jun 2016 11:22 pm

Alan Brookes wrote:Where can I find recordings of his playing after he and his brother split up?

Is it known for a fact that there are any?

There are a lot of "Santo and Johnny" LPs--over 100, some of them recorded in Europe, long after they disappeared from the US charts.

But I can't recall ever hearing of a "Santo Farina" recording.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 12 Jun 2016 6:00 am

I think Jody Carver said that Santo retired from the music biz after S&J broke up, late 1970s. i.e. he quit playing.

Michael Lee Allen · Post by **Michael Lee Allen** » 12 Jun 2016 7:26 am

Deleted

Don Sulesky · Post by **Don Sulesky** » 12 Jun 2016 9:51 am

I was lucky enough to meet both Santo and Johnny at a touring concert in NH in 1960.
Talked to them for about 10 minutes and I was hooked on steel after that.
Also at this R&R concert was Dwayne Eddy, Lou Christy and several others.
The other great thing at that time was it only cost me 10 cents to get into the park to see the concert.
Wow, how times have changed.

The Steel Guitar Forum

UPDATE!!! Steel guitarist Santo Farina is still with us

UPDATE!!! Steel guitarist Santo Farina is still with us

RIP Santo