Doing it for a Song

By Bobbie Katz

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ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

Take 4 seasoned singers.

Mix in a variety of musical tastes, from opera to pop, blues, Broadway, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and Italian love songs.

Add 15 orchestra pieces.

Pepper them with eight beautiful ladies who play string instruments.

Stir the pot.

If you want to know what’s cooking in Las Vegas, this is the Las Vegas Hilton’s ultimate recipe for an evening of pure magical entertainment – the Las Vegas Tenors, who will be headlining the hotel’s main showroom on September 7 and 8. A perfect blending of voices and styles that was created at the Bootlegger Bistro on Las Vegas Boulevard in the Spring of 2005, the group -- Bill Fayne, Bobby Black, Mark Giovi and Teddy Davey – started out delighting a restaurant-full of people. But after being introduced to the mainstream public at casinos and other venues in town, the foursome has caused such a stir that it is now ready to serve 1,000 or better, offering something for every musical taste.

“We do every kind of music,” says Fayne, the Tenors’ founder. “That’s our strength and what makes us different from Il Divo or the Three Tenors. We appeal to everyone. Even people who traditionally don’t like opera have come up to me after the show to say that they loved the show because we do everything. In fact, Mark’s solo is a Bon Jovi song. And we all love the fact that we have a 15-piece band behind us for this engagement at the Hilton that includes Belle Rumore, eight beautiful ladies who play violin, viola and cello that we will feature. This is our show on a bigger scale.”

With sold-out engagements at the Suncoast, Gold Coast and South Point bearing testimony, what the Las Vegas Tenors bring to the table is individual rich musical histories, different styles and personalities and beautiful voices that when put side-by-side on the stage, induce an emotional reaction that goes to the very core of the listener’s being. And the unprecedented combination is all thanks to the former manager of the Bootlegger, Ruth Catalano.

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“We were all individually getting up and singing on various Monday nights at Kelly Clinton’s Celebrity Karaoke at the bistro,” Fayne recalls. “Ruth heard each of us sing at different times and came to me and said, why not put a group together and call it the Three Tenors of Las Vegas? At the time, it was only Bobby, Mark and myself but I thought that maybe I’d call us the Las Vegas Tenors. And, as fate would have it, Bobby was singing on cruise ships and the group had been together a month when he had to leave to fulfill a commitment. Kelly then recommended Teddy Davey to fill in for him and I loved Teddy’s singing and personality. So it was Mark, Teddy and me for a while and when Bobby came back, we didn’t want to let Teddy go. So it became the four of us.”

Actually, Black had previously met Fayne, Clint Holmes’ longtime musical conductor/arranger and best friend, through Holmes’ backup singer, Natalie. Bobby knew Mark, who had met Holmes and Fayne briefly 18 years before when he became the only person with cerebral palsy to ever perform on the Cerebral Palsy Telethon, which was hosted by Holmes that year (Giovi has cerebral palsy on his left side). Clinton knew Davey from starring with him in a show called “Ba Da Bing” at Sazio’s at the Orleans.

“It’s like a jet engine – it’s bigger than any one individual and is musically powerful,” explains Davey, about why the Las Vegas Tenors is a success. “We’re all so different individually and everyone brings their best stuff to the group – all the gaps are filled in. It’s like an orchestra in which everyone plays slightly differently and produces different sounds but they all blend together to produce a wall of sound. This group is organic and familial and I think that people are ready for a return to what I call a simple spectacle of the human voice.”

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Here are the individual ingredients that compose the Las Vegas Tenor’s unique sound:

Bill Fayne – This November, Fayne will celebrate 30 years as Clint Holmes’ musical director/arranger. But Fayne has also been musical director of more than 50 musical theater productions, operas and TV shows over the past three decades. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Atlanta, Columbus, Delaware, and Buffalo (his home town) symphony orchestras.

As an arranger, he has worked with Suzanne Somers, Gloria Loring, Ann Jillian, Hal Linden, Mickey Rooney and Kathie Lee Gifford. He has made numerous TV appearances on Bob Hope specials, Dick Clark productions, The Tonight Show, and The Joan Rivers Show, among others. Fayne has composed music and written special material for the stage and TV and he and Clint have created revues for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and for Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and are hard at work putting the finishing touches on the original music for Holmes’ autobiographical stage show, “JAM-Just Another Man,” which he recently previewed at UNLV.

Bobby Black –An internationally acclaimed vocalist, Black has made his way from him hometown of Donalsonville, Georgia to the Australian Outback and across four continents sharing his talent and charm with millions of people. His one true love being music, in April 2000, Black was hired to be the lead pop soloist for the grand theatrical productions onboard the Celebrity Cruises, GTS Millennium. Black was so successful and well-received in the production shows that he was asked to do his own one-man show, which can now be seen all over the world on a variety of ships including Celebrity Cruises and Holland America.

Mark Giovi – The Trenton, New Jersey, native started singing at a very early age. In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles and founded a rock band, playing clubs on the Strip and opening for some major acts. While in L.A., he was asked to become Aaron Carter’s vocal coach and subsequently became Carter’s tour manager. Giovi traveled with Carter all over the world, singing backup and opening for ‘N Sync, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. Giovi has also appeared on many national TV shows, including “The Today Show” and “Regis and Kathie Lee.” It was through singing at Kelly Clinton’s Celebrity Karaoke at the Bootlegger that the producer of “Bite” at the Stratosphere saw Giovi and hired him as the singer in the show, a gig he has retained for the last 2 1/2 years.

Teddy Davey – This classically trained acclaimed singer hails from Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis, and has performed all over the world. In Las Vegas, he was one of the original gondoliers at the Venetian for 18 months; was one of the original cast members of “Tony ‘n Tina’s Wedding” at the Rio; was the lead in “Ba Da Bing” at the Stardust, Aladdin and Orleans for 2 ½ years, and performed at Maggiano’s Little Italy at the Fashion Show Mall for 1 ½ years.. He also performed a lounge act for a year-and-a half at Harrah’s as well as performing on a Princess Cruise Lines Mediterranean tour. Davey has also done a lot of acting and appeared on the TV show “Barney” as Dr. Tick Tock.

So there you have it -- The Las Vegas Tenors – guaranteed to satisfy any musical appetite.

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ADDITIONAL ARTICLES BY BOBBIE KATZ HERE