A Website about Las Vegas for Las Vegans

Tony Sacca grew up the son of a butcher in Philadelphia. “When I was a boy, my father was so intrigued with the guys who played accordion. He wanted somebody in the family to play music. So he got my sister to try the accordion. She dropped it. He encouraged my (identical twin) brother and I to pick up an instrument. I picked up the guitar. My brother liked the drums.”

And with that, The Sacca Twins were born. They were 12-years-old when they got their first paying job—$25 for a sorority party. An older kid in the neighborhood had heard them practicing and got them the gig. After that, they took any job they could get. “We worked go-go joints, played background music, did motorcycle joints—those places scared the hell out of me. We would do anything. At that age, if anybody wants you to work, you say yes to anything.” 

Sacca went into the U.S. Marine Corps at 19, and then back into the entertainment business when he got out a few years later. He studied voice at the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and worked for a while with his brother at a club in Wildwood, N.J. hosting an oldies review. 

Then the brothers took their show on the road. They played the Sheraton, Hilton and Ramada Hotel chain's nightclubs and performed on cruise ships before landing a month-long contract a the El San Juan Hotel in Puerto Rico that developed into a 3-year stay.

It was then that the idea of performing in Las Vegas started bubbling. Siegfried and Roy had come down to see the show. Siegfried said to me, Sacca pauses, adopting his best German impression, “You guys are great! Great! You should come to Vegas!” 

And so, in 1981 Sacca did. He began working at the original MGM hotel casino, another month-long contract that lasted 3 years! “It sounds really easy, but I’ve got to tell you how difficult it was. I didn’t have somebody in the business who could call up and say, ‘Hey, can you book my son at your place?’ I did it all on my own. But you can’t give up. You can’t get discouraged.”

Sacca is always looking forward in business and the idea of a television show came to mind. Naysayers were everywhere—from the critics to potential sponsors. But Sacca was determined to make it happen. For the first six months, Sacca and his brother hosted the show, calling it “Live From Las Vegas,” but that would soon change as well as every aspect of the program.

Sacca then went solo and called the show “Tony Sacca’s Live from Las Vegas.” It soon evolved to “The Tony Sacca Show,” then “Celebrity Magazine,” and finally “Entertainment Las Vegas Style.”

Staying afloat meant getting creative. He would end up starting his own advertising agency to sell commercial spots on the show, bought his own production company, and now Entertainment Las Vegas Style is in its 20th year syndicated across the U.S. and ratings are high.

His show is the recipient of an ADDY Award, The Bronze Quill Award, Electronic Media Award, The National Telly Award, The Videographer Award and the Communicator Award.

Always the Entertainer. “I think you have to keep changing to make it work,” Sacca says. Never leaving behind the entertainer inside, Sacca has always maintained his singing career. He loves the stage, music and the Las Vegas scene. He closes both his television and stage shows by singing a song he wrote years ago about his adopted hometown: Las Vegas—The Greatest Town Around.

He sang it on the David Letterman Show and the Las Vegas community was thrilled with the song, and has included it in the Las Vegas Time Capsule, a 100-year time capsule sealed in 1986. “I love this town and the people I’ve met. They’ve given me inspiration, and I think that’s what makes my shows work,” Sacca says.

Even with all the awards and titles he has acquired, Sacca still finds time for benefit shows, charities, and helping others. Through his talents and his entertainment friends, he has produced the annual Merry Christmas Las Vegas Benefit Show for 17 years, where proceeds go to The Youth Foundation for the Performing Arts, helping children become the stars of tomorrow. Sacca also produces the Annual San Gennaro Festival, all of which his entertainment friends donate their talents, along with Sacca to give back to the community.

Sacca’s stage show is a musical review highlighting classics from the swing era to contemporary standards. Sacca takes his audience on a one-man musical journey, complete with costume changes for each era, video highlights from his television career, and touching moments with his twin brother, Robert, who passed away a few years ago from Leukemia. His new original CD release, “Listen To My Heart” is available in stores now, and is the theme song for his stage show.