On co-authoring this book, he said, “Antonio was really great to work with and for part of the interviews I was in London, on the phone with a loud speaker so I could make notes, with my daughters listening in. They were saying how interesting his story was.”
Moore continued, “Antonio was very honest and we did the interviews over the phone with me recording them. He would explain and I would ask questions about the stories for clarification. Much of what we wrote about the first five chapters, Politics Over Profit, The Silent Majority and the political parts were researched from archives.”
“I was very surprised at all the stories he told me which we put in his book, especially about all he and his family went through. This is my third book, I also wrote a biography of Martha High and her 32 years on stage with The Godfather of Soul James Brown, that one was called ‘He’s A Funny Cat Ms. High: My 32 Years Singing with James Brown.’ My first was my own autobiography, ‘One Of A Kind Making Things Happen, written to motivate others never to give up’.”
When asked about his favorite part of this writing process/experience, he said, “My favorite part was seeing his stories and all he had gone through being placed in writing, in his book, for everyone, all his fans, to read and enjoy. I knew that no one knew all he had gone through and it was a privilege for me, never having met Antonio, to be writing his life story. Then to see it as a finished book. It’s like Antonio making movies, you get to see the final product and we are both very happy with our work.”
On being an author in the digital age, he said, “When I was an apprentice in London at age 16, I was trained in Mechanical Engineering and got my degree. I was coached by older craftsmen who seemed to hate all the new technology and I remember thinking, ‘I will never be like that, I will be the guy who embraces technology,’ so I do I like to learn new technology.”
“I was the US Correspondent for a UK Radio show owned by my first girl singer (yes I was in a band…everyone was then.) Her name is Dee Anderson and she owns GloTime TV. She was the daughter of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson of Thunderbirds fame and she wanted me to do interviews with musicians,on her radio station,” he said.
“I interviewed, singers, songwriters and producers, fire chiefs, first responders. I have a You Tube channel with around 35 of these interviews. They involved me taking my recorded radio interviews and making them into a video using photos from my interviewees. I learned to edit the interviews (getting rid of all the pauses and other things), cool stuff I loved it. One of my interviews was with six ot the offspring of the Blues all on the same call,” he said.
“Mojo Morganfield (Muddy Waters son), Brenda Wilson (Jackie Wilson’s daughter), Billy Davis who taught Jimi Hendrix to play guitar, Tomeka Dixon (Willie Dixon’s granddaughter) and Toni Spearman a blues singer and Ambassador to the blues in Germany. I had two in Detroit, two in Chicago, one in Germany and Tony Cheesebourough (formerly with Ohio Players) with me in Indianapolis. So cool. I had to cut out four minutes of laughter,” he exclaimed.
Regarding his use of technology in his daily routine as an author, he said, “I have to admit that using software like Kindle Create was a real challenge. It has been an uphill struggle not because of me but the software is very limited in what we, as authors can do. For example, I was tearing my hair out over the formatting of the front cover. But, we made it in the end and I made several suggestions to Kindle to improve their technology. Their customer service was excellent.”
For young and aspiring authors, Moore said, “I am now working with many new authors and the advice I can give them is firstly, just do it. Get your ideas down on your computer. If you are doing a bio or auto bio,then don’t worry about the timeline, do that after you have all the stories down. If you are writing a novel, plan out the characters, their quirks, their way of handling things, maybe even base them on people you know. This way they become three dimensional.”
“You have to make the stories interesting for your readers to read. What may be interesting to you may not be something for others to read. Get a friend or someone to read your work and see how they respond. I ran a glove company here in the USA and I was the only certified glove Designer in the USA. As I found out when Natick Army headquarters asked me to be part of a glove technical committee,” he said.
“When I designed a new glove, military and firefighting gloves that are now in service, I always watched the reaction of people trying on my designs. If they said nothing, it was not a good design, if their reaction was ‘Wow’ then I knew I had something good. Be prepared to improve your work if a review (before you publish) is not what you want to hear,” he added.
On his definition of the word success, he said, “For me, success is not measured in money (though its easier to say that when you have some) but in what we do that fulfills us. I would never have thought that I would become a writer, and I measure my success in how people see what I have done.”
“I help many young people writing resumes for them (I charge nothing it is an enjoyable service) I measure my success there in seeing them get their dream job. I coach them on the interview process and how to negotiate their pay and benefits and its really a great feeling when the call me to tell me they got the job. I have 100 percent success with these,” he acknowledged.
“So, success for me is what I can do to help others to reach their own success. My radio interviews were for people to listen to and to think, maybe I should try something new. Success is motivating others to strive for their own success and to never accept failure,” he explained.
Moore remarked about The Untold Story, “This is real life, and Antonio Sabato Jr.’s story is one of overcoming all that life threw at him and his family. It is a story of his grand parents life in Prague, Czechoslovakia, being forced to become entertainers of all things by the socialist party. If they didn’t they were banned from working or forced into something in the hope they would fail, to force his grandparents to join the party.”
He continued, “His mother held as a child hostage at eight years old. These are real stories of life in other lands. How they moved to Italy and become one of the top families in Italy, only to have their home burned down to the ground in a arson attack that nearly killed a very young Antonio who was in their home at the time. Then learning English watching Tom Cruise movies over and over again (you would never know he learned English this way).”
“Finally, Antonio trying to do the right thing by running for Congress only to lose his livelihood, being banned by a very corrupt Hollywood. Now, back on his game…its the stuff of movies and it is an uplifting read. But you will have to see this for yourself,” he concluded.
The Untold Story by Antonio Sabato Jr. and Tony A. Moore is available on Amazon by clicking here.
Read More: Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos chatted with Antonio Sabato Jr. about his new book The Untold Story.
