It’s been a magical, musical match for widow, widower

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 | 8:41 a.m.

Jerry Fink

They met on the phone seven years ago and have been making music ever since.

Their stage names are Sheri and Johnny Simone, a lounge act from the East Coast trying to make it in Las Vegas.

Their latest gig is at Al's Club International, a restaurant/lounge at 1750 S. Rainbow Blvd., where they perform at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

"I was in Los Angeles and Johnny was in Las Vegas," Sheri recalled. "I happened to meet some old friends of his."

One evening they called Johnny, whose wife had died about 18 months earlier.

"They were talking to him on the phone when I walked into the room," Sheri said. "They said I had to talk to this guy -- he was an entertainer, I was an entertainer. He was a widower, I was a widow."

They talked for four hours that first night.

And then almost every day for weeks.

"There was something about her voice," Johnny said. "It was magical."

They had lots to talk about.

There were the similarities, and the differences.

Both had been entertainers most of their lives.

He was rocker from Fairview, N.J.

She was a native of Oklahoma City and more into big bands.

Sheri and her twin sister, Syd, had begun performing in Oklahoma when they were 7. After high school they pursued their career on the West Coast and then the East Coast.

Sheri married a New York businessman and continued to sing.

Johnny and his wife started a cleaning business, but he also continued to sing.

When his wife died of cancer, Johnny came to Las Vegas for awhile.

"I was burned out," he said. "I was alone for a year and a half before I met Sheri."

After her husband died, Sheri moved to California. But after a year, she was ready to head back to New York.

"By then Johnny and I had been talking on the phone for weeks," Sheri said. "I thought, 'I'm not going all the way back to New York without seeing this guy.' "

So she loaded her van and drove east, making a stop in Las Vegas. Two months later Johnny joined her in New York and they became an act.

"I was a little nervous," Johnny said. "I had always been a solo, But when we sang together, it was beautiful."

They had a busy career, performing at nightclubs, resorts and casinos -- primarily in the Northeast.

But 9/11 changed everything.

"Show business took a dive," Johnny said. "People were embarrassed about going out and having a good time."

Eventually, the couple decided they should move to Las Vegas -- it "being the Entertainment Capital of the World," he said.

It hasn't been easy, but the two have persevered, playing every gig they could get, whether a coffeehouse or a showroom.

"We've done some crazy stuff -- gigs that most performers would turn around and walk away from," Sheri said. "But when you get onstage and the love you get back from the audience -- it makes all the backache from lugging equipment around worth it.

Finally, they say, things are beginning to happen.

They have high hopes that they will be able to sell a variety/talk show.

"We've met a young lady with HBO connections who wants to sit down and talk to us," Johnny said.

"I have produced a lot of shows over the years," Sheri said. "Not for TV -- this would just be another step."

They are working on a record deal with a Japanese label.

Down the road, they hope to create a stage production based upon a film script they wrote.

"Sometimes we get a little scared," Sheri said, "but music is our heart and soul. We are the happiest when we are performing."

Lounging around

* Trombonist Brian O'Shea and saxophonist Cash Farrar jam at 9 p.m. Sundays at the Tailspin, 6295 S. Pecos Road.

* Drummer Irv Kluger says reports of his death are "totally exaggerated."

"A friend from Colorado called my wife a few days ago and said she had read in some jazz newsletter that I had died," he said. "That must be a ghost band playing at Pogo's every Friday night."

Kluger, 84, and his band have been jamming from 8 p.m. to midnight every Friday at Pogo's for the past 21 years.

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.