N.Y.C.'s answer to Pavarotti: a singing cop

If Verdi were to write a new opera, it might run like this: A young man loves to sing, but at first he doesn't succeed. Then he joins the police, where he sings the national anthem. Thanks to his great voice and the mayor's patronage, - he cuts a CD and gets to study with Placido Domingo.

But Verdi can put his pen down - it's true. Call it the Daniel Rodriguez story. Or, maybe "l'Aria del Singing Cop."

Over the past three months, life has moved faster than a Gilbert and Sullivan libretto for the Brooklyn-born-and-raised Mr. Rodriguez. The tenor has sung the "Star Spangled Banner" to open the World Series, performed for millions during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and hit the high notes for NBC when the network lit the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Almost everyone from David Letterman to Larry King wants to hear him croon. On top of all that, he's still trying to do his job as a community-affairs officer in Midtown South.

"I'm not the kind of person who says no to many things," says Rodriguez, immediately after singing on the nationally syndicated Don Imus radio show. "They asked me about my future the other day, and I said, 'Five years from now, I'd like to get some sleep.' "

That won't come anytime soon. Tom Scott, producer of the Emmy's, heard Rodriguez sing at a rehearsal for the annual television awards. "I was so moved by his rehearsal - in ways I can't describe - that I asked him if he had a record deal or would like one," says Mr. Scott.

They agreed on a deal that sends the proceeds of the single to the Twin Towers Fund, to help the victims of the Sept. 11 attack. The CD was released last week, and Manhattan Records/EMI will release a full album in February.

Life hasn't always been such a dream for Rodriguez. He grew up in Brooklyn's Sunset Park section, the son of a transit authority employee, who also loved to sing. "My father was the life of the party," says Rodriguez. "He'd grab the guitar - he couldn't play - but he'd start singing."

The youth picked up on it right away. At age 13, he started taking voice lessons. For eight years, he was in a repertory company, and at 16 had his first recital at Carnegie Studios.

But at the same time, he had fallen in love and started a family. It meant that he had to start thinking about a different kind of C note - the type that comes with pensions and benefits. He worked as a short-order cook, a truck driver, and then in the Post Office. He kept singing whenever possible, but when he was about 30, he got a call to enter the Police Academy. "I thought it's about time to hang up my hat. I can always keep singing, but it doesn't look like I'll be a movie star, so I took the police job because it's great and every day is a new experience."

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