Hundreds turn out for Bill Fayne’s memorial

An artist’s passion for collaboration speaks to their generosity.

Bill Fayne was an infinitely generous artist.

The renowned composer, vocalist and musician died of cancer in March at age 75. He was celebrated at The Strat Theater on Sunday.

About 300 well-wishers, friends and family turned out. It seemed Fayne worked with them all. If he didn’t, he was always one heartbeat, and downbeat, away.

“Nothing meant more to Bill than collaboration,”composer/lyricist Ken Laub, a lifelong friend of Fayne’s, said from the stage. “He loved working with other artists.”

Jeremy Fayne, Bill’s son, organized and produced the event. The younger Fayne works as crew chief and technical manager of venue operator SPI Entertainment. He’s not known as a stage performer, but fulfilled a promise to his father to sing “Here’s To Life,” a song Bill Fayne sang a lot and was important to the family.

Music heals my soul … Clint Holmes tribute so @billfayne … #BillFayneCelebration @stratvegas pic.twitter.com/KwCFzYxPms

— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) June 11, 2023

His voice wavering, Fayne sang the closing lyric, “Here’s to life, Here’s to love, here’s to you.”

Maintaining the familial tone, Jeremy’s 13-year-old daughter and Bill’s granddaughter, Reese, performed to “Dancing In The Sky.”

Veteran Vegas headliner Clint Holmes moved to Las Vegas in 1999, with Fayne as his music director, for a run at Golden Nugget. The two went on to perform in Holmes’ headlining production at Harrah’s for 6 1/2 years.

In his event-ending appearance, Holmes mentioned their friendship and partnership.

“My career is so largely because of Bill Fayne,” said Holmes, who enlisted his best friend as a music director in the 1970s to open for “every stand-up comic in the world.” I have worked with, and continue to work with, wonderful musicians my whole life. But never was anyone as giving as Bill.”

Holmes went on, “The other part is, 60 years, with a friend. How does that work? Sixty years, through all of hit, through marriages, heartbreaks, disappointments, some of them really devastating. Through illness … This was the friendship of my lifetime.”

Holmes recalled the time some 15 years ago, when Fayne was hospitalized and in a coma while being treated for esophageal cancer. Holmes was performing at the Suncoast Showroom.

Fayne’s birthday landed during that hospital stay. So he and his wife, Kelly Clinton-Holmes, decided call their friend during the show, and leave a message of the entire audience singing “Happy Birthday To You.” It would be one of the first messages Fayne heard when he woke up.

Holmes put in the call. “There’s a voice on the other end, ‘Hullo?’ I said, ‘Bill? And he said, ‘Yeah?’ ‘You’re awake!’ And he said, ‘I am?’ ”

Fayne pulled out of that episode. But his decline was unabated, from last fall into being hospitalized early this year. He passed two days after being admitted to Nathan Adelson Hospice.

Fayne’s friend, the popular comic-actor Lou De Meis, touched on Fayne’s sense of humor, which he described as “twisted.” (Fayne wore a cap that read “I’m Not Dead Yet” through his illness). The two met when they were on the same bill at a variety show.

“We both responded to something that was said on stage, with the same exact joke at the same exact time,” De Meis said. “”It was almost like we rehearsed it. We just looked at each other. I mean, what else can you do?”

Fayne mixed his talent for comedy and vocals by singing “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in the styles of Sinatra and Pavarotti. “We’d put a Fedora on his head when he was Sinatra, and a beret when he was Pavarotti,” De Meis said. “We would just screw around. It was the most fun that I ever had on stage.”

Clinton-Holmes recalled talked Fayne into performing as “Billvis,” an Elvis tribute, and a double-satire of Clinton-Holmes’ “Kelvis” character. Clinton-Holmes also developed her own impression of Fayne.

In their last conversation, Fayne said to Clinton-Holmes, “Don’t make me laugh.”

“Of course, that made us all laugh,” Clinton-Holmes said.

Though universally aligned with Holmes, Fayne also flourished on his own, and of course in his many partnerships.

Fayne worked independently for 10 years as music director for a summertime series at the Sporting-Monte Carlo club in Monaco, beginning in 1985. Fayne had led the orchestra in a massive, kick-off event for Prince Albert’s Monaco Red Cross charity campaign.

Fayne also brought his all-star shows (with a seemingly endless roster of guest stars) to Myron’s Suncoast Showroom, Bootlegger Bistro, Italian American Club, The Stirling Club, Sam’s Town, The Vegas Room at Commercial Center and Starbright Theater. He was a frequent contributor to The Composers Showcase of Las Vegas.

Fittingly, TCS co-founder Keith Thompson played piano throughout the event. The Bill Fayne Choir, assembled by Michelle Johnson and Rob Hyatt, performed “No One Is Alone” and “Somewhere.”

Clint Holmes said he still misses his friend, when he watches a Yankee game or sees a Buffalo Bills player interviewed. Fayne was a fan of both. Holmes wiped tears before he sang a song the two co-wrote, the one Holmes said meant the most to the two friends, “I Sing.”

Fayne wrote the music and Holmes wrote the words, “I sing, and I sing miracles. I sing, and I’m exactly who I am.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.