“I Started Loving You Again” #86 1/17/1970

A Top 20 easy listening remake of Merle Haggard’s country classic from Al Martino, born Jasper Cini. Al was another in a long line of Italian-American crooners. After initial success in the early 1950’s, he ran afoul of the wiseguys and fled to Britain for several years. When he returned to the States rock and roll had taken over, further derailing his career, but he recovered. Al later received acclaim for his role as Italian-American crooner Johnny Fontane in “The Godfather.” A real stretch, right?