Freddie Mercury and my father’s bowling shirt

Everyone always loves this story, so I thought I would post it here.  My sister, Caryn Hartglass, recently wrote about it on her facebook page:

Here’s the story about my dad, Harold Hartglass who was a great bowler in his younger days, bowling 3 nights a week. He competed in the 1968 Pro Am Madison Square Garden National Championship. Later all his bowling shirts, including the one from Madison Square Garden, were donated to a neighbor collecting clothes to send to Poland. Somehow it got into the hands of rock star Freddie Mercury and it was reportedly one of his favorites. We found it via an accidental google search around my dad’s 75th birthday when it was hanging in the Hard Rock Cafe in Shanghai. Now it hangs in Bahrain.  Unfortunately, Freddie Mercury is no longer with us, but my dad, now 84, recently joined a new league and bowled a 217!

In honor of his 84th birthday, which was on February 2nd, we are all going bowling today with my dad!

I should also mention, that like Freddie Mercury, my dad also sings…  Well, not really like Freddie Mercury, but maybe more like Billy Eckstine or Frank Sinatra.  I recorded dad singing a few times in my studio and then my father-in-law wanted to get in on the act too.  It became a Father’s Day tradition to record “The Grandfathers” singing together. Soon after, my brother-in-laws, became part of the group and they were singing on the Father’s Day recordings also.  Last year, I included almost the whole family singing together on a recording on Father’s Day…  A very musical family!

Take a listen to the recording that started it all – my dad singing the classic song, “All The Things You Are.”  He starts off by saying “This is for you Sugar.”  Sugar, of course, is what he calls my mom…  He ends by saying “Well,” which is his tribute to Billy Eckstine.  Upon first hearing this recording, my friend Claudia Martin (one of my favorite singers!), wrote “Who needs Sinatra?”  Of course, my dad loved that.