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Half A Century In The Business

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BY CHERYL BENTLEY

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: November 19, 2008

Larry Greer got his first taste of show business when as a five year old, he saw country music singer Eddy Arnold in a rhinestone-studded suit.

"Every time he moved, his suit sparkled like a diamond," he recalls. "I thought it couldn't get any better than that."

Over half a century later, the show business bug is still biting. Greer is a regular on the West Pasco entertainment circuit of veterans and fraternal organizations.

He concentrates on 1950s, '60s and '70s tunes. "That was when music was good," he noted.

Greer will appear tomorrow, Nov. 20, at the Tarpon Springs Moose Lodge in Holiday.

Greer does a lot of Elvis Presley, as befits someone who grew up in Presley's hometown, Tupelo, Miss.

Although Greer was too young to know Presley before he left Tupelo, his mother, who was in the entertainment business, knew the singer.

Her son was bitten by the Elvis bug. "I use to stand in front of the mirror and act like Elvis," he recalled.

But his real music idols are Conway Twitty and Roy Orbison.

Greer began singing in bands when he was 15, honing his talent on the music of the day, including the Beatles, and two other British Invasion bands of the '60s, the Animals and the Dave Clark Five.

Greer moved to Florida in 1972, where he sang with various bands in St. Petersburg. In 1993, he moved to Holiday.

He feels out the crowd, he said, and then tries to get them on the dance floor. "Whatever it takes to get them to dance, I'll do," he said.

The most important thing for him is to get his audiences to have fun, he said.

He loves requests, Greer said. Engelbert Humperdinck's "After the Loving" is his most popular request, but he does anything the audience wants.

"I'm there to make them have a good time," he said.

The lowdown

Singer Larry Greer will perform 7 - 10 p.m., tomorrow, Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Tarpon Springs Moose Lodge, 1936 Abacus Road, Holiday.

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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