August 07, 2008	Thursday	Sha’aban 4, 1429

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 6: The son of legendary singer Frank Sinatra has launched a search in Brazil for a boy his father sponsored in the 1980s so he can invite him to a Rio concert of many of the late crooner’s famous tunes.

A newspaper in the city, Rio O Dia, on Tuesday published a photo of the boy taken 28 years ago, the day the late Frank Sinatra gave him a bicycle. It identified him as Carlos Henrique dos Santos and said today he would be “around 40”.

Sinatra’s son Frank Sinatra Jr, a 64-year-old singer who has carved out a career crooning his father’s standards in practically the same voice, is currently touring Brazil on his “Sinatra by Sinatra” tour.

Finding Dos Santos and inviting him to the Rio gig would crown the tour, he said.

The search has all the more resonance because Sinatra Jr is now the same age his father was when he first met the boy in 1980 during his own concert in Rio.

Sinatra senior had asked to see the boy he was sponsoring for 19 dollars a month through a charity that helped children in underdeveloped countries.

Dos Santos regularly sent letters to his famous sponsor in which he spoke of his day-to-day life, and his dream to one day own a bike.

Sinatra made that wish come true when he finally saw him face-to-face.

A newspaper report from that time said Sinatra had been deeply moved when he visited Dos Santos’s home and saw that over the broken television the boy had stuck a picture of the US singer.

But over time, Dos Santos and Sinatra lost contact. Sinatra senior died in 1998 after a long and storied career in music and films.

Frank Sinatra Jr began his Brazilian tour on July 27, and has sung in Manaus, Salvador de Bahia, Brasilia, Curitiba and Sao Paulo. After Rio, he will give his last concert on Saturday in the southern city of Belo Horizonte.—AFP