Howell 10-Year-Old Sings His Heart Out At Sinatra Singoff In Hoboken

HOBOKEN, NJ — While most 10-year-olds enjoy their time gaming or playing sports, a 10-year-old Howell boy is chasing a different dream: singing like Frank Sinatra.

Joseph "Jo Jo" Trusso, a fifth grader in the Howell Public Schools, showed up in dapper Sinatra-era garb and belted out "Fly Me To The Moon" on Thursday on the Hoboken waterfront in the city's annual Sinatra Singoff.

Jo Jo was the youngest competitor ever in the contest, which draws Sinatra impersonators from around the world to the famed singer's birthplace.

Jo Jo received praise for his Sinatra-like smile and his swagger from the judges, who said in a few more years he will be a formidable vocalist.

"I think your voice needs a few decades of cigarettes and Jack Daniels," judge Joyce Finn said, joking.

He has been singing for several years, including singing the national anthem at a Howell Public Schools Board of Education meeting in 2023.

You can see Jo Jo's performance in the YouTube video of the contest. Scroll to the 1-hour, 13-minute mark.

The winner of the 2025 contest was a man who, like Sinatra, was born and raised in Hoboken. Sinatra himself was born at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City on Dec. 12, 1915, while his family was living at 415 Monroe St. in Hoboken. He died in May 1998 in Los Angeles at the age of 82.

Here are the winners of the 2025 Sinatra Singoff:

• John Rinnell, first place, Hoboken born and raised, now lives in Ellenton, Fla. He graduated from Jersey City State with a bachelor's in music education. He was raised on Sinatra's music and started singing at the age of 14, he said. He purchased a microphone of Sinatra's and brought it with him for good luck. He placed second last year. "Shows you that tenacity counts," said Hoboken's Historical Museum spokesperson Vera Sirota.
• Marco Barrios, second place, Doral, Fla. Marco is a singer/songwriter and music teacher. He feels that one should "sing to the people you love."
• Michael Patrick Dominick, third place, from Sea Girt. After his brother was diagnosed with a critical illness at a young age, Michael and his musician friends created a fundraiser for an organization that impacted his family greatly, recreating the Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin Las Vegas acts from the 1960s, calling it "A Night At The Sands." He has been performing for charitable events for 20 years.

Sinatra's Hoboken beginnings

Sinatra's star rose as he sang around Hoboken and New York City in the 1930s, finally leaving town in 1939 when he married his first wife, Nancy.

His parents remained in Hoboken after he left, and you can see photos of their Census card and their Hoboken house here: Frank Sinatra, Joe Pesci's NJ Roots Found In Unsealed Census Data

Hoboken has run its Sinatra contest since 2007, but had to change the name from "Sinatra Idol" after the producers of "American Idol" threatened a lawsuit.

For the last few years, the contest has taken place at Frank Sinatra Park on the central waterfront, 525 Sinatra Drive.