Billy Fellows Will Be Presenting A Special Concert In Monroe

By Shannon Hicks

Entertainer and composer Billy Fellows has headlined at New York’s famous Latin Quarter, offered a grand opening appearance at the Riviera Hotel Las Vegas in 1957, appeared on more than 100 network television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show and  The Tonight Show, plus ten years of regular appearances on both The Merv Griffin Show and The Mike Douglas Show, and in every major venue in the United States and Europe. While recording for MGM Records, he also taped his own television special called First Impressions.

Merv Griffin referred to him as a “genius,” Sullivan called him “one of a kind,” John Davidson has called him “amazing,” and Mike Douglas called him “the real thing.”

Fifty years into his amazing career, the Newtown resident continues to find new ways to share his talents. Next week Mr Fellows will offer show that will not only be a treat for fans of all ages, but it will also endear him that much more to one of his biggest fans: his granddaughter, Cleo Conk. When Mr Fellows takes the stage on Wednesday, October 24, at 707 On Main, a recently opened restaurant in Monroe, he will be performing a concert that will be raising money for Cleo’s school, Fraser-Woods Montessori School of Newtown.

Tickets for Billy Fellows at 707 On Main are $30 per person, which includes hors d’oeuvres and a wine tasting which will feature wines from a local vineyard, dinner, and the live performance by Mr Fellows. The Ali Ryerson Trio will open the evening’s entertainment with a set. Tickets will be available at the door or can be ordered in advance by calling the Montessori School at 426-3390.

The idea for the show began presenting itself a few months ago, when Mr Fellows and his family were on a cruise ship together. Much of Mr Fellows’ time is spent performing for Royal Caribbean and Holland America cruise lines.

“[Cleo] got right up on stage with me last spring while we were all on a cruise,” he recalled this week. “She was on with her mother and father, and it was such a hit. We sang ‘A Lotta Watta,’ one of my songs from my new CD. She knows it by heart, so she sang it right with me and it was a huge hit. I think that’s where the idea came from.”

Mr Fellows was originally hoping his granddaughter would join him onstage again in Monroe, but thinks she may be having second thoughts now.

“She’s chickening out a little bit, I think,” he said. “I’ve got a shaved head so I look like Daddy Warbucks, and she was going to be my Annie. That was my original incentive to do this, to be able to sing with her again.

“But I’m still going to do this, of course,” he added. (Actually, a phone call from Mary Fellows, Billy’s daughter, earlier this week included background conversation by the young Miss Conk herself, who could be heard talking about her hopes to sing with her grandfather, including plans to sing “America the Beautiful.” Fingers up and down the Fellows family tree are being kept crossed.)

The October 24 show will consist entirely of Mr Fellows’ songs, including one called “An American Love Song,” from 1996’s One Day Each Year. Mr Fellows also has a 1989 album, Finally, and a 1999 release, Past Forever, to his credit, in addition to three video releases; he is hoping to have his next album ready in about a month. Originally released on his second album, “An American Love Song,” says its writer, has been getting a lot of attention lately.

“As you can imagine, I’ve been singing the heck out of that one the last month,” he said.

For the last 32 years, Mr Fellows and his wife Kathleen have called Newtown home.

“This is the longest I’ve been anywhere, though I’ve been on the road a lot of the time,” the entertainer said. “Fifty years in show business, though. It went fast, I’ll tell ya.”

The opening set Wednesday night by jazz flutist Ali Ryerson and her trio will be like old-home week for Mr Fellows.

“We go way back,” Mr Fellows said. “She’s good friends with my wife and I. She travels a lot too, though, so we don’t get to see her as much as we’d like to. It’ll be a nice little get-together.”