Columnist Jerry Fink: Starlight Lounge gig is for a worthy Carse

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 8:38 a.m.

Las Vegans have the opportunity to see a career rocket being launched at the Stardust.

Vocalist Steph Carse is making his Las Vegas debut at the Stardust's Starlight Lounge, with performances at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. during a limited nine-day engagement that began Saturday.

Carse says he needed to come to Vegas to get the feel of what it is like to perform in the entertainment mecca.

"This is all brand-new stuff to me," he said.

The budding singing sensation's remaining dates are Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday.

"It's a dream come true to sing in Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world," the 32-year-old native of Orlando, Fla., said. "Every great performer has performed here.

"I'm ecstatic, very excited."

Anyone who has as much going for him as Carse should be ecstatic. He has movie-star good looks, charm and loads of talent, in the same vein as Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban, two of his favorite artists.

Carse has spent most of his 15-year career in the East, performing in Nashville, Atlanta and at Florida venues.

Among other gigs, he has performed with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and at the American Relief Concert in New Port Ritchie, Fla., following the 9-11 attacks.

"In Florida I'm known as 'the national anthem singer,' " Carse said. "It seems almost as if I perform at every game. Last year at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game I won first place in a contest, and ever since then I've been singing the national anthem."

He also makes albums, including "Pagliacio," "Rain," "Just You" and "I Want More."

Carse recently completed recording another album in Nashville, and is ready to start work on yet another.

Although Carse performs occasional club dates, his aim is higher.

"I'm interested in performing in concerts, mainly," he said. "But I love the recording process as well. And I'm a songwriter."

Carse's Vegas show is a tribute to many of the local legends.

"(Frank) Sinatra, Celine (Dion), Sammy Davis Jr.," he said. "And I do a few of my own songs."

Carse says he can't remember a time in the past when he wasn't singing.

"My mother taped me when I was 3 1/2 years old, singing a Christmas song," he said.

And he can't envision a future without it.

"It would be a curse not to be singing right now," Carse said. "I don't even want to consider it. I would be lost."

Singing is in Carse's blood. His pop-opera leanings are natural. His grandmother was an opera singer and so he grew up listening to it, and to a lot of popular songs.

He has great uncles who were opera singers who did voice-overs for the movies in the '40s and '50s, dubbing musicals whose stars couldn't sing.

Carse says he also was influenced by singers he saw on television as he was growing up on a farm in Quebec, Canada.

Although he's a fan of Sinatra, Elvis, Celine, Groban, Bocelli and others, he says, "I'm more of a fan of great songs."

Carse says he thinks of himself as an actor in the way he approaches a song, adjusting his presentation to the music.

"It's hard for me to say who I am exactly," he said. "I find different colors in my voice.

"I'm drawn to different styles. I would be bored to do just one specific style."

Whether he ultimately will be drawn to Vegas remains to be seen.

"This is kind of a showcase, to see the reaction," Carse said. "I hope it's going to open doors. I've been working hard enough. Hopefully, it will pay off."

Lounging around

Check out the smooth jazz and R&B of David Van Such at the Sahara's Casbar Lounge, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., Aug. 16-29.

Keyboardist Dennis Mellen and trumpeter Rick Jones can be heard from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Thursdays at Casa di Amore, 2850 E. Tropicana Ave.

The Cannery's classic rock series ends Tuesday with a performance in The Club by Yellow Brick Road from 9:30 p.m. to midnight.