The Rat Pack at Christmas.

There are many different versions of the Rat Pack Tribute bands and it gets a bit confusing when you see the same Sammy Davis Junior alongside different Franks and Deans. Or  Sammy Singing as Nat King Cole. Sometimes theatre company websites don't give you the names of their talented performers because they change them around.

Jim Whitley

I finally tracked down the identity of this superb artist. Ex Footballer Jim Whitley and I have seen him on numerous occasions. Last year he was with The Rat Pack Live playing Sammy at the Portsmouth Guildhall as well as the Kings Theatre Portsmouth where he was Nat King Cole in Christmas Crooners. This year at the Guildhall again, he appeared with Rat Pack Vegas Spectacular Christmas show with Wayne Kennedy as Dean Martin and Roman Marek as Frank Sinatra. Jim has an exquisite singing voice which I could listen to all day.  

This was a very entertaining show from a classic era, however I felt that Sammy had a much bigger part to play than in other reproductions I have seen. Wayne's Dean Martin literally spent most of the time at the bar allowing Sammy and Frank most of the spotlight. He appeared at random intervals.

The band were fabulous and the show was packed with familiar songs, dancing and laughter.
Click on the you tube clip below.