IT WAS after Frank Sinatra's younger daughter Tina met Tom Burlinson in 1990 that the Australian actor knew he could confidently forge ahead singing in the crooner's style.
Although Burlinson had already been classically trained for the theatre and was well-remembered for his starring role in The Man From Snowy River it was the Sinatra "stamp of approval" that propelled him into a singing career.
But the Sinatra connection had really started for Burlinson when he was only about two or three.
"I was too young to even say 'Sinatra', but I'd point out to my mother I wanted to hear the album again that had a picture of him in a hat," Burlinson said.
"I called the album 'The Man In the Hat'."
When Burlinson wrote his own Sinatra-style song he called it The Man in the Hat, and it was that recording which he sent to Tina Sinatra and eventually led to the two meeting up in the US.
The result was that some of Burlinson's vocals were used in the 1992 miniseries that Tina did on Sinatra's life.
After graduating from NIDA in 1976 Burlinson appeared in the TV series The Restless Years after which he won starring roles in Snowy River, Phar Lap and Eureka Stockade.
Peppered between various stage and film performances he appeared at a variety of venues with a Sinatra show.
The Sinatra performances included a concert at Taronga Zoo, a show at the Seymour Centre, appearances in four other Australian capital cities and in his birthplace of Toronto, Canada.
On screen, Burlinson also provided Sinatra's voice for the Australian feature film The Night We Called It a Day, based on Sinatra's controversial 1974 Australian visit.
The latest show is a salute concert called Sinatra at the Sands to mark 100 years since the legend's birth.
Accompanied by his All Star Big Band he will sing songs by Sinatra in his prime, like Come Fly with Me, I've Got You Under My Skin and You Make Me Feel so Young.
The original 1966 album Sinatra at the Sands was recorded at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas.
Tom Burlinson Performs Sinatra at the Sands, 8pm, July 18, Sutherland Entertainment Centre, 30 Eton Street, Sutherland; bookings: 9521 8888 or suthentcent@ssc.nsw.gov.au