Bobby Morris

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Robert "Bobby" Morris (actually Boruch Moishe Stempelman , born June 1927 in Wilno ) was an American musician ( drums ).

Live and act

Morris grew up in Wilno, Poland, and moved with his family to the United States three days before his tenth birthday in 1937 in order to escape persecution in Europe by National Socialism . Morris and his family lived in Brooklyn, where he started shining shoes to pay for his drum lessons. At age 14, he joined the musicians' union and got his first paid job, a weekly gig at a resort in the Catskills , New York state. In the next few years he worked in various country clubs in New York; he also attended the Manhattan School of Music .

During touring in 1949, Morris got to know Las Vegas, which was growing rapidly at the time. A little later he received an offer in Charlie's Tavern to work as a drummer in Las Vegas from 1950 and got a job at the Last Frontier Hotel, where Liberace acted as the opening act. He worked in the city's music scene from the 1950s onwards with music and show greats such as Frank Sinatra , Eddie Fisher , Bobby Darin , Louis Prima , Keely Smith , Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand . Recordings were also made with Sam Butera and The Witnesses , the backing band of Louis Prima.

In 1969 he led Elvis Presley's Las Vegas session when he was Musical Director in the International Hotel's showroom. After taking a crash course in conducting, Morris was also asked to be Elvis' personal conductor, as he was returning after his famous 1968 comeback special after four weeks at the opening of the International Hotel. In May 1969, Morris was invited to the Hollywood and RCA studios with the executives of RCA and MGM to meet Elvis before the opening. Morris spent several weeks with Presley, who prepared the songs and worked out the plans with Morris for the gig in Las Vegas on July 31, 1969. In addition, Morris founded his own agency - the Bobby Morris Agency - and worked with artists such as Robert Goulet and Keely Smith. In 2019, Morris released his autobiography My Las Vegas .

Discographic notes

  • Bobby Morris' New Orleans Jazz Band: Las Vegas and All That Jazz (1990)
  • Elvis Presley: On Stage - February, 1970 (RCA Victor, 1970)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Meet Bobby Morris, the 92-year-old drummer with old school Vegas ties to Elvis and Sinatra. The Spectrum & Daily News, September 5, 2019, accessed January 28, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Morris, Bobby
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morris, Robert; Stempelman, Boruch Moishe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Wilno