As a 2-year-old.

As a 2-year-old, Manny Martinez would climb onto the family recliner and perform for his mom similar crooner classics as "Moon River" at Andy Williams and other sweetly flowing melodies by artists such as Perry Como and Julio Iglesias.

During common such performance, he fell and smacked his head forward the the floor of their living extent in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. still despite such a bumpy start that left him with a scar above his right sight Martinez continued to pursue his like of music.

The journey brought him to Naples, Italy, where the 32-year-old master sergeant is assigned as the noncommissioned officer in charge of personnel programs at Detachment 2 U Air Forces in Europe Mission Support Squadron.

For many, an upcoming assignment to Naples is a source of dread after listening to co-workers quick to color it with stereotype of inferior crime and trash. But Martinez met the stranges with unbridled excitement. Naples was the capital place to continue a "singing and travel habit" after beginning his Air Force take again with tours at Grand Forks Air Force Base, ND; Bitburg Air Base, Germany; Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Izmir Air Base, Turkey; and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.

"I would not be able to do all this without the Air Force," Martinez said of the opportunity he's had to further his singing exhibition "It was the Air Force that brought me here, and I'm thankful for that."

The Naples connection

In Naples, he discovered a be in love with for this historically blessed city whose pulsation and energy match the same enthusiasm Martinez brings to the office each day. however perhaps more importantly, he also came relating to the person who has the one and the other focused and furthered his be pleased with of singing.

between the sides of friends, he heard about Jeanette Taylor-Sciurba, a retired British opera singer who teaches from her abiding-place on the grounds of Christ house of god a tranquil oasis located smack in the middle of chaotic Naples. She invited Martinez to stop by the agency of and sing for her.

in such a manner the newcomer to Naples "plowed" his way downtown for the rendezvous. Taylor-Sciurba, a friendly, straightforward woman, assessed Martinez to have a "good natural voice," still told him a "natural voice does not have the discipline to use it in an operatic manner for the long term. You've got what it takes; you've just got to work upon it."

Martinez was single too happy to renew his commitment to a musical pursuit that had steadily circuited both before and after he joined the Air Force.

The early years

From the family recliner, a young Martinez advanced to the ecclesiastical authority choir where he was promot from choir male child to cantor when, as a 17-year-old, he jokingly made merriment of the church's incumbent cantor. His friend and house of god organ player, Frank DeProspo, dared him to pace up and offer his services instead.

A cantor coup didn't come Instead Martinez was chosen as cantor for noon mass until he joined the Air Force in 1988 He joined for reasons commonly heard: looking for an opportunity for something different, not ready for association and wanting an independent lifestyle away from his family.

Despite his intention to succor four years and get public he re-enlisted and relocated to Germany, Utah and Turkey where he sang in house of god choirs. It was during his nearest assignment at Spangdahlem where his singing mov into a higher gear from responding to an ad from a local woman offering voice lessons

It was there that Martinez large casked into a world of singing in French German and Italian while learning to appreciate the historical period of musical masterpieces. He was selecteded to sing in the chorus when Handel's "Messiah" was performed in the Bitburg Chapel through professional American and German opera singers.

Although his like of music had reached of the present day heights, his expectations were, and still remain, planted firmly onward the ground.

A chaste proposal

"I'm a rookie," he said, in a self-assessment of his operatic abilities. "If I tried to sing at the San Carlo Theater opera house, I would be boo and have tomatoes thrown at me"

His teacher, Taylor-Sciurba, who performed in that grand Neapolitan edifice during her career, gives a kindlier, gentler viewpoint.

"Manny's got a winning natural voice. He's a favorable boy," she said before their weekly Monday practice. "If alone he would practice a little more, who knows if he could use it after his Air Force career," she chided with a friendly smile. Others also notice when Martinez skips his homework. His Italian landlords have sexual delight with his evening studies and question him if they haven't heard his voice after a not many days.

His German neighbor also would question Martinez about his absent voice, explaining that his wife have sexual delight withed listening. She enjoyed it in like manner much in fact, that Martinez flew to Germany to sing at their wedding. He's done likewise at five others.

Nothing would please him more than steady doses of practice. Martinez said it would be "awesome" to increase his hour-and-a-half weekly task to three times a week, if it be not that honing his baritone voice enter the listss with an Air Force career and the pursuit of a stage in human resources management. The average duration for operatic voice contemplation in Italy is eight years.