You’ve seen him, you love him, you’ve learned Spanish from him. Ladies and gentlemen el único profesor que canta, our very own Mr. Bertoglio! And this time, he won’t be teaching you how to properly use Spanish pronouns.

If you are not aware, Mr. Bertoglio has been one of Sahuaro’s Spanish teachers for 11-years. For those of you who do know him, you may be familiar with the fact that this teacher sings. And not just the old singing-in-your-shower kind of thing. This is the real deal. Mr. Bertoglio has been singing for a very long time, since February 9th, 1964 to be exact.

What day is that you might ask? Mr. Bertoglio said, “That’s the day the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. So, when I saw the Beatles on TV I went ‘Well that’s a good job’ ” And he has been singing till this day, performing every Friday night between two places-Magpies Pizza down at 4th Avenue and Tucson Hilton East (near Culvers), singing mostly 60’s and 70’s tunes in his solo act. His favorite song to sing? Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles. His favorite singer? James Taylor. Anybody else want to listen to The Beatles now?

“It’s sort of a hobby but I do make money out of it. I love to play and sing but now at this age of my life I don’t do it for free, so it’s kind of a second job.”

Once Mr.Bertoglio saw the reaction of the people seeing the Beatles that day, it just drew him in. “I thought man, I could do this. Well, maybe not at that level, but it’s still interesting to me.” Mr.Bertoglio also says the girls are what made him want to do it even more too.

In fact, Mr.Bertoglio sang for his wife! “I played and sang for my wife for the first time. We weren’t married of course, but she liked it and then eventually I talked her into marring me.” This also happens to be the Spanish teacher’s favorite singing memory.

So next time you see Mr. Bertoglio in the halls somewhere, maybe ask him to sing a little tune for you 🙂 Or go check him out live one of these Fridays.