Through it all, Michael Grimm just wants to sing and play. Nothing fancy. Just show him to the stage, plug in the Fender and turn him loose.
Oh, and make sure he remembers his fedora. Gotta have that hat.
But it’s not always so easy, or simple, for the steadfastly mellow singer-songwriter who won Season 5 of NBC's “America’s Got Talent”. Since that remarkable victory, played out to an audience of 16 million in the season finale in September 2010, Grimm has recorded an eponymous album (which debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard charts, its highest charting point to date) and toured nationally with Stevie Nicks. Pure chance reunited the two several years after they first met, when Nicks caught Grimm’s show at the cozy live-music club Genghis Cohen in L.A.
Grimm also has become friendly with Barry Manilow, who called him just after Grimm won the “AGT” title and was driving from L.A. back to his home in Las Vegas.
“The phone rings, I didn’t know the number, and it went to voice mail,” Grimm recalled on the latest episode of “Kats With the Dish,” where he spoke with co-host Tricia McCrone and me for about 30 minutes in advance of his dates at Flamingo Las Vegas, which run Tuesday through Dec. 11. “The message was, ‘Hi, Michael. This is Barry Manilow.’ My reaction was, ‘Oh my God.’ But he’s been a real sweetheart, he’s been there for advice, and I’ve actually had the honor of getting to write with him.”
Songs, he means. But nothing recorded. Not yet, anyway.
Such are the happy consequences of fame and opportunity that winning a show such as “AGT” afford. Grimm is a famous guy who was married in June in Maui to his wife, Lucie, the woman he says “still puts up with myself.” He has been able to fulfill his promise to build the home for his grandparents in Waveland, Miss., with the $1 million annuity prize for winning “AGT.” He has recorded a bestselling album, toured the country and is headlining on the Strip in a room where Donny & Marie are the regular headliners (the duo are vacating the showroom to perform holiday shows in Detroit and Chicago).
But Grimm is a wad of nerves, and he owns up to as much, entering this run of shows at the Flamingo. As the frontman, he’s also the point man for the show’s entire run. He’s not just singing. He’s producing and arranging and self-promoting and ensuring that enough tickets are sold to pay for the band and, yes, himself.
“I’m down to doing it myself,” he says, assembling the show and making sure all the parts onstage and off-stage work properly. “I’m asking others to help me out, and the Flamingo has done its part (in working PR for the shows), but I’m the one making sure it’s there and it’s done.”
The most pressing requirement? Filling the 700-capacity Flamingo Showroom.
Michael Grimm.
“Getting the bodies in the seats, that’s the biggest challenge,” Grimm says. “When I get onstage, that’s where I’m the most comfortable. I can’t wait to get onstage. I must be honest, I’m very anxious. The anxiety is overwhelming. I just want to know that people are coming out. I hear we have a lot of people coming in from everywhere to see the show, but I still can’t believe it until I see it. I’m just scared on that end.
“I want to fill it up. For those who see me, they’re going to see a great show.”
Grimm’s longtime friend, Bill Medley, has been assisting in fine-tuning the show in the run-up to Tuesday’s opening. That makes sense, as Grimm was on tour with Medley in Florida when he learned that he’d been chosen to compete in Season 5 of “AGT.” Medley also was an unannounced (we’re not saying “surprise”) guest at Grimm’s CD release party at Ovation back in May.
Grimm says he and his eight-piece band (which includes a pair of backup singers) will weave country, Southern rock and soul into a show that also will promote the CD “Michael Grimm,” produced by music master Don Was.
After this set of dates, Grimm is planning, in general, to tour and play live wherever he can. A “radius clause” in his contract prevents him from headlining in Las Vegas for several weeks after his Flamingo run ends.
“I can’t work in places like I used to,” he says. “So I’m going to be traveling around the States. ... This has been a very fast year, and I’m very blessed to have won ‘AGT,’ but there is also a little bit of a curse.”
Michael Grimm.
An example being Grimm is not able to cut in and out of performances as seamlessly as he did in the pre-“AGT” days. Over the past few weeks, he has been seated in the audience at performances by Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns at the Lounge at the Palms. As he attempts to leave the late-night shows, fans stop and talk and take photos, and the ever-gracious Grimm accommodates them all even as the clock edges toward 1 a.m. on a Monday night.
As he says, “This is the first time I’ve ever had any sort of fame.”
Playing and singing with his longtime contemporaries does make it worth the inconvenience. Grimm prefers live performance to recording in a studio, which he says “puts me to sleep.” He recognizes the power of online music distribution, but that does not make him a fan of that platform.
“Since the Internet has come around, it’s been tough for artists like me to make it in this business,” he says. “I’ve watched YouTube clips of some of these kids going into subways, and they’re singing and they have millions of hits. These are great singers and songwriters, and this is where the music business is today. For me, I knew early in my career that I wouldn’t make as much money in the studio as I have onstage, and that’s what’s happened.”
In writing and recording, Grimm says he is a purist.
“I like the traditional way. If I could record it in analog, please, I would do that,” he says, chuckling. “Don Was is all for that sort of sound, and we captured that real sound. You listen, and you think, ‘Those guys playing are having a good time.’ ”
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.
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