Sharon native Tony Butala, leader of the vocal group, sees ... A comeback forSFlbThe Lettermen

March 10, 2014 at 12:05a.m.

The Lettermen aren’t dead.

Depending on your age, you are either thinking, “Glad to hear it” or “Who are The Lettermen?” Either way, Sharon, Pa., native and The Lettermen founder Tony Butala is happy anyone cares about the famed vocal act.

“The Lettermen have not been on national major television for 13 years, and that’s a long stretch,” said Butala, 75, calling from Los Angeles. “People have a tendency to think you’re dead or retired if they don’t see you on television, even though we do 100 shows a year at beautiful performing-art centers around the country.”

That’s exactly what The Lettermen — Butala, Donovan Tea and Bobby Poynton — have in store for its return to Northeast Ohio this week. The trio will perform at Packard Music Hall in Warren on Thursday.

All you need to know about The Lettermen, a heritage act from a generation gone by, is they got their start in the late ’50s playing Las Vegas.

By the early ’60s, the group was recording, and it never looked back. During its heyday, The Lettermen scored four gold albums and 25 hit singles (“The Way You Look Tonight,” “When I Fall In Love,” “Come Back Silly Girl,” “Theme From A Summer Place,” “Goin’ Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Hurt So Bad” and more). The outfit also toured with the era’s elite, including George Burns, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Bill Cosby and others.

It was quite an experience for Butala, who actually got an early start in Youngstown.

“On WFMJ back in 1947 or ’48, I went over with my mother and brother and did an audition for a talent show that I won,” said Butala, who still owns a home in Sharon. “I did my impersonation of Al Jolson. That’s my first memory, and of course we had a lot of relatives. My grandma had a sister who lived in Youngstown and Girard. In fact, my cousin George Vukovich was the mayor of Youngstown.”

As for The Lettermen, Butala is feeling as though the act is about to return to relevance with a new Time-Life infomercial the group cut late last year selling 10-disc set “Legendary Voices.” The television commercial finds Butala and his bandmates singing songs by Bobby Vinton, Andy Williams and Paul Anka.

Butala is optimistic this is the opportunity The Lettermen have been waiting for to return to the spotlight.

“I think we’re the best-kept secret act in show business,” Butala said. “I’ll venture to say a lot of the younger kids don’t know what an entertainer is all about. I’m talking about younger kids. I might sound like an old curmudgeon who thinks there’s nothing like the old days, but I’m not doing that at all. The people who go see Justin Bieber, their idea of show business is a singer or a group, eight dancers, four background singers, elevated stages, smoke bombs and laser beams.”

While it might come across as cocky, Butala said the legacy of The Lettermen is simple:

“One of the greatest vocal groups in the history of the world that was not only a recording artist but were also entertainers,” Butala said. “The Lettermen can entertain an audience. If they see our show, they’ll see what I’m talking about.”