Frankie Nestro, a singer, record promoter and DJ on radio and in nightclubs, died April 13 at the home of his daughter in Las Vegas, Nev., after a short illness. He was 82.
Born Frank Aguglia in Buffalo, he was the second-youngest of six children and the son of Samuel and Josephine DiNestro Aguglia. His father, who was born in Italy, was a barber.
He was a graduate of Grover Cleveland High School, where he was a track star. In high school, he also began singing and adopted a modified version of his mother’s maiden name for the stage.
“I was discovered at a Bryant & Stratton party,” he told The Buffalo News in 1974. “A friend and I were sitting around singing and somebody approached us and asked if we’d like to sing for a few dances. We got a band together and after a while we started doing Russ Syracuse record hops.”
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The group was called the Del-Tones and released a single, “You’re the One,” in 1961, then broke up two years later.
His band played record hops for DJ Lucky Pierre in the Buffalo area and with DJ Lenny Rico in movie theaters along the Southern Tier and northern Pennsylvania.
He released another single, “I Don’t Wanna Wait,” as Frankie Nestro with the Fascinates. He later worked with a group called the Belvideres and released singles on the Fran-Co label.
“I started singing on my own in places like the Clardon, the Town Casino,” Mr. Nestro recalled in 1974. “I went to California and did a shot on ‘Rawhide’ and did the bandstand shows in practically every city in the country. I almost did ‘American Bandstand.’”
Returning to Buffalo, he was promotion man for Motown Records for 10 years in the western half of upstate New York. He notably convinced Motown executives that “My Cherie Amour,” the flip side of Stevie Wonder’s single, “I Don’t Know Why I Love You,” was a hit by getting radio stations to play it. It was re-released as the A side and rose to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mr. Nestro was a DJ on radio stations WNIA, WUSJ and WLVL and spun records in nightclubs. For nine years, he was a DJ at the Three Coins on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
In the mid-1970s, he and Rico produced and co-hosted a music trivia game show for 13 weeks on what was then WGR-TV. He went on to DJ for more than 30 years aboard ships of the Royal Caribbean cruise line.
He moved to Las Vegas around 1990 and worked for the Excalibur Hotel and Casino and other businesses in music-related capacities. He came back to Buffalo a few years ago to be with family and friends.
Western New York music history enthusiast Bob Paxon, who blogs as Bob the Record Guy, interviewed Mr. Nestro in 2014 and concluded: “He’s one of those rare people who found a (great!) niche in the music business and made it work for him.”
Survivors include a daughter, Dawn Miller; three grandsons and a great-grandson.
There will be no services.