“Wow, can this guy sing and he makes a pretty mean pizza too! He’s the singing ‘Pizza Dude’ from Farmingdale, Long Island and he is now a YouTube sensation all because he makes the pizzas while singing the songs. Carmelo Raccuglia told PIX11 News. ” Singing is like a part of my life besides making pizza is my trade. ‘I’ve been making pizza for 35 years and every time I make pizza I sing.’ Taking a minute out from his busy day at the Stage Door East Deli he talked of his love of food and song. ‘ Somehow if you make Italian food the singing just comes out. I just believe it these 2 things go together… at least for me!”‘

“The 48-year-old Raccuglia has been a hit since a customer posted a video of him singing a song for another customer’s birthday on YouTube on January 20th. He’s gone viral with nearly half a million hits. For the last 5 years Carmelo has been belting out his opera and classical Italian songs at the Deli and Pizzeria in Farmingdale but he was singing long before he came to the states from Sicily when he was thirteen. He says he grew up in his dad’s downtown Manhattan pizzeria and his grandmother was a professional singer.”

‘”Grandam used to cook and sing and ever since I was a little boy I watched her make the sauce. the homemade sausage, and homemade pizza and she always sang.” So he cooks and sings. “A lot of people are eating and I start singing and they put the fork down and put their eyes on me and I realize I do have a voice! It makes me happy because I love to sing and it makes my customers happy! “‘