FALMOUTH – In the late 1980s, John Salerno was teaching music at the Cape Cod Conservatory when a staff member from the Kennedy compound called. They were looking for a pianist to play at the Hyannisport house for Senator Ted Kennedy and his elderly mother, Rose.
“Anytime the Senator came home from Washington, he always had a singalong for his mother,” recalled Salerno, 77, of Falmouth. “I would go play for an hour. We played some Irish songs and he would sing.”
Salerno became Kennedy’s personal piano player and kept going back to the compound for the last 25 years of the Senator’s life. He played for just the Senator and his mother, who had had a stroke, as well as for small family gatherings, and large functions. He met world leaders and movie stars. He played at Kennedy’s second wedding.
(See also John Salerno plays “Autumn Leaves” at the Belfry Inn – VIDEO)
According to Dennis Nobrega, a saxophone player who played in Salerno’s big and smaller bands that often played at the compound, “the Senator would go out of his way for John. They were dear friends.”
Kennedy was not Salerno’s only fan on Cape Cod.
Salerno was often referred to in glowing terms in a long-running Cod Cod Times social column written by the late Kitty Baker. “She helped make me a big star on Cape Cod,” he said.
“He was one of the biggest bookers and stars on Cape Cod for at least 20 years.”
The reason for Salerno’s popularity, said Nobrega, is that “He’s one of a kind. He’s from a different era. He’s elegant, sophisticated and humorous. He’s an outstanding entertainer, singer and musician. That’s what I would call a perfect storm.”
“He was one of the biggest bookers and stars on Cape Cod for at least 20 years,” said Nobrega.
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