Dean Martin once said about Bob Anderson, "Bob does me better
than I do me!"
Impressive
as that accolade made be, there's more to it than meets the eye when
it comes to why the talented entertainer is the only one qualified
to wear the mantle of "the Dean of Impressionists."
 It's
even more than the fact that People magazine dubbed him
"America's greatest singing impressionist." The be or not
to be was never the question for Anderson - while others dreamed of
being recording stars, Anderson actually became them - from Frank to
Dean, Sammy, Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Steve Lawrence, Tom Jones,
Jack Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and an incredible host of
others.
The keynote for Anderson was that he
possessed a wonderful voice of his own. Always a fan of the best
music, the top singers and the kinds of songs that became classics,
standards and award-winners, Anderson has been influenced by the
great artists who had made their mark on the world of music. He had
no time for the songs that disappeared into oblivion after a few
short weeks on the Rock 'n Roll charts. As a young boy, he would
listen over and over and over again to the sounds of Sinatra, Davis,
Bennett and the others in that genre and would sing along with their
records.
Subconsciously,
their vocal sounds became imbedded in Anderson's brain; little did
he know at the time that one day, with his natural gift for mimicry,
he would be able to reproduce those voices in an uncanny manner. Nor
did he know that he would have the chance to know all these artists
and be able to observe them firsthand so that he could gain the most
important element to his future act - the ability to reproduce their
authentic personalities, which he had observed up close and
personally. And never in his wildest dreams did he expect that he
would grow up to become the very first singing impressionist and the
only one to ever be endorsed publicly by all these great stars on
national TV.
Anderson actually began his career
signing in local piano bars and supper clubs in Detroit, where he
was born and raised. Upon visiting Las Vegas in 1973 to check the
town out, he walked over to the Sahara Hotel where Nancy Sinatra was
appearing in the main showroom. Opening the showroom doors, he
discovered that Nancy was rehearsing for the show. He sat down in a
booth in the back of the room, in the dark. He quietly watched the
goings-on.
And then fate stepped in...
BOB
IS DISCOVERED
The Everly Brothers, who were to open for Sinatra, got into a fight.
After three hours of rehearsal, they split up their act and left,
leaving Nancy looking for an opening act. "One of the Everlys
used to sing her duets such as 'Something Stupid' and 'Jackson' with
her", Bob recalls, "and everyone was freaked out. They
were going to change the whole show. So I walked up to the stage and
told them that I was a singer from Detroit and could do those songs.
Everybody laughed, but Billy Strange, Nancy's conductor, who had
been Elvis' arranger, said, 'Give the kid a mic; we open in a few
hours.' I ended up opening that night and Nancy took me to a shop on
Maryland Parkway and bought me a tuxedo. My first time in Las Vegas,
my first casino, and my name was on the marquee that evening."
After that, Nancy took the 22 year
old Anderson on tour with her all over Nevada. Then in 1974, she
brought the young singer on "The Merv Griffin Show" with
her. Anderson sang "If" and his performance was caught by
Paul Anka. Anka then called Bob and told that he wanted to introduce
him again on "The Merv Griffin Show" and that he had
composed a song he wanted Bob to sing. So Anderson went on the show
again a few weeks later.
Six months after that, thanks to his
exposure on the show, Anderson found himself opening for Joan Rivers
at the Ye' Little Club in Beverly Hills. Merv Griffin stopped by and
invited Bob to a party at his home, an event that had a guest list
of 200-300 people and included names like Elizabeth Taylor, George
Hamilton, Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant, Burt Reynolds and
Jimmy Stewart. At the party, Merv was playing the piano and he asked
Bob to get up and sing out of the blue, Anderson started doing songs
he knew such as "Just in Time" and doing impressions of
the people who made them famous. Aware that he was looking at a
unique talent, one that was dabbling in virgin territory, Merv
turned to Bob and said, We've found your act. You're going to be the
singing impressionist."
The
very next day, Merv and his musical conductor, Mort Lindsay, wrote
an act for Anderson. The following week, Anderson appeared on Merv's
show for the third time, with Griffin introducing the young
entertainer to the world as "the singing impressionist."
Anderson did impressions of Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis
Jr. and Tony Bennett and received a standing ovation from the crowd.
His sense of humor and touches of comedy were already becoming
distinguished assets in his performances.
By
1977, it seemed that the road to stardom was unstoppable for the
impressionist. Deemed top in his field by both Merv Griffin and
Johnny Carson, Anderson was invited back for numerous guest spots on
their respective shows. In fact, Anderson made 100 talk show
appearances over a period of seven years, from 1979-86, which was
unprecedented at the time. Also unprecedented was the fact that he
appeared on the top-rated "Tonight Show" twice in just
four days. All told, he did 13 Johnny Carson Tonight shows,
more than 50 Merv Griffin shows and 25 Mike Douglas shows as well as
appearing on "The Dinah Shore Show", "The David
Letterman Show", "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" and
"The John Davidson Show". He also did an HBO Special with
Rich Little and a Showtime special with John Byner.
After the first Carson show, Anderson
got a two-week gig at the "in" spot in Las Vegas, the Top
of the Dunes. The two-week engagement turned into nearly 200 weeks.
Virtually making the room his own from 1979-81, Anderson saw stars
such as Paul Anka, Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr.,
Robert Goulet, Liberace and Joe Williams, along with other
impressionists such as John Byner, Rich Little, David Frye, Fred
Travalena and Babe Pier, in his audience on a constant basis. The
biggest names in show business would drop by for Bob's late show and
join him on stage, a tradition that still takes place wherever he
performs. At his recent engagement at the Desert Inn, for example,
Tom Jones, Steve Lawrence, Tony Bennett, Engelbert Humperdinck,
Robert Goulet, Jack Jones, Bill Medley, Frankie Avalon and Buddy
Greco came into see Anderson's show and got up and performed with
the impressionist.
After the Dunes engagement, Bob
started working with headliners like Johnny Carson, Bill Cosby,
Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr. and Shirley Bassey and appearing all
over the United States as well as South Africa, England,
Switzerland, Finland, Australia, Monte Carlo, and Europe. He
performed at the Kennedy Awards in Washington D.C. in honor of Henry
Kissinger and also at Friar's Club roasts for Kirk Douglas, Jimmy
Stewart, Gregory Peck, President Ford, Tony Bennett and Milton Berle.
AN
ALL-TIME VEGAS PERFORMER
With all his acclaim, its no wonder that when in January of the new
Millennium, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest daily
newspaper, asked its readers to name their all-time Las Vegas
performer, Anderson came in at number 12, smack dab in between
Barbra Streisand and Ray Charles. In order of choice the list read
as follows:
#1 Frank Sinatra,
#2 Dean Martin,
#3 Sammy Davis Jr.,
#4 Tom Jones,
#5 Elvis Presley,
#6 Paul Anka,
#7 Johnny Mathis,
#8 Andy Williams,
#9 Wayne Newton,
#10 Tony Bennett,
#11 Barbra Streisand,
#12 Bob
Anderson,
#13 Ray Charles,
#14 Liberace,
#15 Jimmy Durante,
#16 Tony Orlando,
#17 Judy Garland,
#18 Robert Goulet,
#19) Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme,
#20) Shecky Greene
The fun part is that Anderson can re-create the vocal sounds of
almost everyone on the list!
Bob
does not do funny little caricatures of his subjects, he does not
exaggerate to make the person recognizable, he becomes his subjects.
The humor comes from his exactness. You won't see any "Kermit
the Frog" impressions in his show, he does tributes to only the
best. The most ironic thing about all of this is that Bob never
practices any of his subjects. If he never had to do another
impression he probably would not, he just wants to be a singer!
For
more about Bob Anderson, please visit: www.BobAnderson.com
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and their songs.
