Uptown guy: Indefatigable Holmes sets boundless goals

Friday, Jan. 18, 2002 | 9:49 a.m.

Who: Clint Holmes.

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday (dark Sunday).

Where: Harrahs Showroom.

Tickets: $59.95.

Information: 369-5222.

Clint Holmes stands at the top of his world.

The 55-year-old singer has climbed to the summit of Las Vegas entertainment in barely three years, beginning with a seven-month gig downtown at the Golden Nugget and then moving uptown to Harrah's.

His show, "Takin' It Uptown," began its third year at Harrah's this week. In October Holmes signed a five-year contract that will assure him a place in the local spotlight until 2006.

Drawn by Holmes' unfettered enthusiasm, talent to burn and an infectious zest for life, tourists and locals routinely fill the 560-seat showroom at Harrah's.

After conquering Las Vegas, what's next for the son of Audrey Cole Holmes, a white opera singer from England, and Eddie Holmes, a black jazz singer from the United States?

There's always the rest of the universe.

"I'm never satisfied," Holmes said. "I'm satisfied with the pace of my growth here, and I'm enjoying myself, but do I want to expand? Of course. Will I feel my career is not a success if I don't? No."

With firm footing on the Strip, Holmes has his eyes on even larger objectives: national television, for example.

"Having a TV show airing from here has been at the back of my mind and I've kind of moved it to the front," Holmes said. "It would be a talk show, or a variety show." Television would be nothing new to Holmes.

In 1991 he hosted "New York at Night," a talk show that aired on WWOR in New York City for a year and garnered a local Emmy. Holmes was a correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight" in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, and was the announcer-sidekick for Joan Rivers on her talk show on Fox in 1989.

Recording is another possible route to national stardom.

Although Holmes' metier is live performance, he would like to do more recording. In 1973 his "Playground in My Mind" reached No. 10 nationally on the pop charts. He recently released "A Night to Remember," a CD and DVD produced live at Harrah's. This year he hopes to release another CD.

And, Broadway beckons.

Holmes wrote the musical "Comfortable Shoes," which was performed at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., in 1996.

The production seemed destined for Broadway until producers suffered financial setbacks in 1999.

"It was about then that Steve Wynn called me and asked me to come to Las Vegas to perform at the Golden Nugget," Holmes said.

The play is still alive. It is scheduled to open in Chicago in the fall without Holmes. However, he said, if it ends up on Broadway or in London, he may join the cast (Holmes would have to make an agreement with Harrah's if he wanted to make such a move while still under contract.)

Holmes said the play is about himself and his family. Pieces of it can be seen in his show at Harrah's.

"It's about growing up in a bicultural, biracial, bimusical family and figuring out who you are and all that," Holmes said. "It's about my mom and dad meeting and falling in love and marrying in England against both family's wishes, and having me, and my growing up and them figuring out what they should tell me.

"In essence, it's about finding where we fit in."

Holmes was born in England, but grew up near Buffalo, N.Y.

"I didn't fit anywhere," he said. "It's not like people would beat me up (because of mixed heritage), they just didn't call me up. People didn't go out with me when I asked them to. It was not usually overt (racism), it was just that you didn't get invited to things.

"Mom and Dad were pillars of the church, but on Monday they would hear about parties they didn't get invited to on Sunday."

Holmes said his rejection may be part of the reason why he is so gregarious today, someone who is passionate about being with people and bringing friends together.

In like Clint

"The thing about Clint," said singer-impressionist Bob Anderson, one of Holmes' closest friends, "he's kind of responsible for the entertainers in this town getting back together again. He's brought back the camaraderie among the performers."

Anderson, who performs four nights a week at the Sterling Club at the upscale high-rise Turnberry Place residential complex, said after some of the legendary Las Vegas performers -- Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and a host of others -- died, the closeness among the entertainers disappeared. Performers did not associate freely together.

"He has no ulterior motive," Anderson said of Holmes. "It's just his personality. He figures if you're going to live in the community, why not have a nice relationship with your peers?"

Magician Lance Burton, who has lived in Las Vegas for 20 years, began hanging out with Holmes soon after Holmes arrived in town.

"We kept bumping into each other at charity events, both of us do a lot of fund-raisers," Burton, who performs at the Monte Carlo, said. "The camaraderie that has developed among the performers in Las Vegas since Clint arrived, everybody says it reminds them of the old days when the Rat Pack was here. The same kind of thing has developed."

Burton describes Holmes as a genuinely friendly person.

"He's the instigator of getting all the performers together, of hanging out, having dinner," Burton said. "I've noticed a definite change in the entertainment community since his arrival."

Holmes was one of the driving forces behind the USO benefit show at Mandalay Bay in November, when dozens of Strip entertainers raised money for the service organization.

"I will remember that as one of highlights of my career," Burton said.

Singer Frankie Randall, who has been associated with Las Vegas for more than 40 years, said Holmes is "a throwback to old Las Vegas. Clint is that type of performer. He's so full of energy, onstage and off."

Energized entertainer

Holmes has devoted his seemingly boundless energy to performing almost his entire life.

"I can't remember ever not wanting to be an entertainer," he said.

Holmes has traveled all over the world performing, but decided to make Las Vegas home.

In 1999 he and his wife of 33 years, Brenda, moved to town with their three children, Brent, now 22, and 19-year-old twins Britney and Cooper.

Explaining his decision, he said, "My kids were getting to an age that we realized they weren't going to be around home much longer. Also, like every entertainer, I spent so many years traveling. I performed on cruise ships and a lot of other places.

"There are a lot of places you can perform where you are making a good living and doing fine, but you don't feel like you're in the mix, like you're really in the loop. Las Vegas is one of the few places an entertainer can live and work and feel like you're in the mix.

"So, when I got the opportunity to (move to Las Vegas), all things considered, it was the right time. Danny Gans had opened the door -- he had been here three or four years and had proven that a talented, good act could survive. So it was the right time to take a shot."

Wynn, for whom Holmes worked on many occasions over the years, made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"He was struggling with what to do with the room at the Golden Nugget, so he called me and said he wanted me to give it a shot ... If you're with Steve, he's going to get behind you. Unfortunately, the location didn't do the business that would warrant me (staying) there."

Holmes was at the Golden Nugget for seven months, during which his public relations people arranged for a television commercial, print ads and billboards that had him singing in the shower.

"It wasn't the way I envisioned myself on my first billboard on the Strip," Holmes said. "But it got people's attention. I still get people coming into the theater asking me to sing the shower song."

He doesn't mind the ribbing he has received over the years about the shower scene. Only once did he feel embarrassed about the ad.

"When my daughter was 16, she saw it and said 'I could so not live here,' " Holmes said. "I don't know if there's anything worse than seeing your father in the shower. But it served its purpose."

The ad, the talent and the ebullient personality caught the attention of a lot of people, including various hotel executives. By the time the decision was made to close the 400-seat showroom at the Golden Nugget in late 1999, Holmes had become Harrah's golden boy.

"We had a lot of confidence in Clint," said Madeleine Weekley, regional director of public relations for Harrah's. "We knew it was something we needed to do, to put a lot of energy into making it a success, and it happened."

Pivotal point

Holmes was considering several offers when Harrah's stepped forward in 1999.

"I actually started opening for Bill Cosby at Harrah's at Tahoe in the early '80s," Holmes said. "I knew that (owner) Bill Harrah appreciated and understood entertainers -- that's the only place Cosby would work."

So when Harrah's made him an offer, Holmes said he was thrilled.

"We knew they would stay the course, even if we didn't do well the first few months," Holmes said. "And the first year, there were a lot of very slow nights -- but never once did anybody make me feel my job was in danger. They would come to me and say when things were slow, 'We're really sorry, we just haven't figured out how to get the message out.' You have no idea what a big blessing that was."

Suzanne Trout, vice president of marketing for Harrah's, who also oversees entertainment for the property, says she saw Holmes perform several years ago in Atlantic City.

"Clint was a star in Atlantic City, a headliner," Trout said. "When I came back to Las Vegas, the prospect of having him here and knowing he can have the same appeal was very clear to us.

"We felt he just needed an investment of time. We had a lot of faith in Clint and the show, and it's paid off both for Clint and Harrah's. He's an exceptional entertainer, and a great image for Harrah's. He's handsome, talented, well-spoken and he gives back to the community."

Weekley said Harrah's never considered giving up on Holmes when times were rough.

"We could see the momentum building," she said. "It was gradual, but there was constant feedback -- never did anybody, in an exit survey, say they didn't have a good time. It was constantly positive. So it was just a matter of getting people in to see the show, and they would go back and tell their friends.

"It's to the point now that its one of those shows people feel they have to see when them come to Vegas."

Many Las Vegas hotels have a reputation of not promoting entertainers who work for them. Weekley said that's not the case with Harrah's.

"They don't have Clint Holmes."

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