#santo

The Farina brothers, Santo & Johnny, were born in Brooklyn, New York. Santo, October 24, 1937 and Johnny, April 30, 1941. The boys were young when their Dad was drafted into the Army and stationed in Oklahoma. There on the radio he heard this beautiful music, it was the sound of the steel guitar. He wrote home to his wife and said "I'd like the boys to learn to play this instrument". When he returned from the war they searched out to a man who could get them started with the steel. Years later, they formed a band, playing at church dances, weddings and clubs. The Farina brothers began to gather fans from Brooklyn to Long Island.

As their popularity grew locally they recorded a couple of demo tapes.  Johnny made the rounds of the New York record companies.  One day Johnny decided to try a music publishing company and there is where the history of "Sleep Walk" started, they signed a song writer's contract which later on lead them to Canadian American Records.  Their first release in 1959 was "Sleep Walk" which was written by Santo & Johnny.  It was the last #1 instrumental of the 50's and earned them a Gold Record.  With their unmistakable sound, they appeared on all the top music shows, "The Alan Freed Show", "Dick Clark’s American Bandstand", "The Perry Como Show" etc.