From the archives: Regis talks music

Regis Philbin will end his 28-year run on daytime TV on Friday without any word on what he plans to do next. Maybe he will focus more on his music. When we talked to him in 2003 in his “Live With Regis and Kelly” office on the Upper West Side, amid all his Dean Martin memorabilia, he shared his love of music and performing. In any case, he is a New York institution, a sweet, classy guy and we will miss seeing him every weekday morning on TV.

You're a busy man. You don't need to do all these concerts. Why do you do it?

Gamboa getting to the heart of things! Why? You know what? It gets me out of the studio. It gives me a chance to see our audience on a big scale -- rather than just 150 people -- and it gives them a chance to look me over, too. I think it's good for the show . . . It gets you up, and I enjoy it.

And you like the performing part, the singing? Is that something you always wanted to do?

As a matter of fact, when I was a kid, I did want to be a singer, but I veered off. I got lucky one time, or else this never would have happened. When I was on "The Joey Bishop Show," I walked with Bishop -- we used to walk every day for an hour around Hollywood, and it got down to "What did you want to be when you were a kid?" I told him that when I was a kid every kid in New York wanted to be a singer because single singers were in vogue. I loved Bing Crosby since I was 5 years old, and I knew all of his songs, all of the words. So one night we had Bing Crosby on the show and they were all afraid to ask him to sing. So Bishop wanted to tell him this story and he said, "Bing, you see this kid, he's your biggest fan. It would be the biggest thrill of his life if he could sing, 'Pennies From Heaven' for you." What he meant to say was "if you could sing 'Pennies From Heaven' for him," but it came out the other way around. Nothing to do but to look at Bing Crosby and sing. Next day, I got a recording contract. That's how the whole singing thing started. You know, I'm a talker -- a television talker, by trade, but to round out the show, I do a little singing.

How do you pick the songs in your set?

A couple of them are a tribute to Dean. "Everybody Loves Somebody" and "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You," I kind of mix those two together and I tell a story of my relationship to him. Vic Damone gave me a medley of three songs, a medley that Sinatra gave to him when he retired, and Damone gave them to me when he retired.

What is it about Dean Martin that makes him so special to you?

I loved them all -- Sinatra, Como, Vic Damone. But Dean had a certain personality that he gave his performance that I thought made it a little bit different than the other guys. Yeah, he played straight man for Jerry Lewis, but without him doing it the way he did it, the whole thing wouldn't have happened. I guess it's his personality and his zest for giving you a great performance that I really enjoyed.

So do you want to keep adding to your music act? Are you still playing piano?

I found out that unless you take up something when you're a kid, whether it's golf or tennis or skiing or playing the piano or the computer, you've got to get it when you're young, otherwise you just can't get it. It was so frustrating to me. I would use it as part of my act and I would do it at home and it would be fine. I would do it on stage and I would die a horrible death. I thought, "Why am I putting myself through this?" So I gave it up.

Are there any recent songs that you hear that you want to do?

Name me a recent song to do. Come on, Big Gamboa, let's hear it.

Well, how about all those "American Idol" kids? Anything you saw them sing that you wanted to do?

Anything that I can do that Ruben sang? No! You wanna hear Ruben? Tune in to "American Idol!" I don't know those songs, and that's the big problem, I think, for a guy like me. In today's music, there's nothing I can do. Once in a while a song comes out of a Broadway show, but not too often any more. It's a different ballgame now, so you've got to rely on the songs that people may remember from a different era, songs that frankly I hope will never die, even though we don't hear them much these days. That's why I do them.