Las Vegas showman Gregg Austin dies days after 70th birthday

By the end of his life, Gregg Austin’s rollicking Motown show routinely filled a pair of Las Vegas showrooms at off-Strip hotels.

But Austin’s influence has been felt across the city, and beyond.

It’s in the famed “Purple Rain” act Morris Day and the Time, which has enlisted Ausin’s son, Thomas, to portray Day’s onstage sidekick “Jerome.” It’s in the Boyz II Men residency at The Mirage, where Austin’s friend and protege Johnny Johnson has served as guitarist. It’s in Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns and the Earth, Wind & Fire tribute Serpentine Fire, where Tyriq Johnson — Johnny’s brother — shows off his amazing vocal prowess.

Austin’s legacy, too, is felt in the career of master showman Earl Turner, who met Austin some 30 years ago and considers him a brother.

The beloved co-founder and front man of Gregg Austin’s M Town & More at South Point and Texas Station died Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer. He had just turned 70 on Dec. 29. He and his wife, Audrey, celebrated their 41st anniversary in September.

There are not yet plans for a public celebration of Austin’s life. But the act Austin founded will continue to perform, as it has for nearly a year since Austin’s illness forced him from the stage. M Town headlines South Point Showroom, where it has performed for the past nine years, at 7 p.m. Tuesdays. The act plays South Padre at Texas Station, where it has headlined the past five years, at 9 p.m. Fridays.

Though M Town has always been presented as an ensemble act, Austin was its clear leader.

“With Gregg, he had this great smile and friendliness, but when we were rehearsing there were no jokes, no laughs,” said Ron Ransom, a former police officer who was bass singer in the group and a friend of Austin’s for nearly 50 years. “Another thing, you don’t tell Gregg that he can’t do something, because he will go prove it some other way. You tell him he can’t sing a song, the next day he has that song down.”

Austin was originally a letter carrier in Milwaukee, leaving that post after 14 years to pursue a career in singing, which he enjoyed as a deacon in his church. He assembled a singing group modeled after The Temptations, and pursued this passion in a move to Las Vegas. The original version of M Town performed first at Las Vegas Hilton in 1988, then within a year moved to the Flamingo Hilton in what today is Bugsy’s Cabaret.

Austin helped create the original production of “American Superstars,” which opened at Flamingo (and later performed at the Stratosphere) and was produced by Donny Lee Moore and Mark Callas, son of legendary comic Charlie Callas. The show co-starred portrayals of Elvis (Pete Wilcox), Little Richard (Junior Brantley), Michael Jackson (William Hall) and Cher (Heidi Thompson).

But Austin’s Temptations act, with its snazzy suits and precision dance moves, always closed. As Turner says, “These guys with their moves, their great voices and those sharp suits — nobody could follow that act.”

After performing in “Superstars” in Reno and Mike Moloney’s “Showstoppers Live!” tribute production in Scottsdale, Arizona, Austin pitched M Town as a free-standing act to then-South Point entertainment director Damian Costa, at the hotel’s Grandview Lounge. The act filled the venue four times, and moved into South Point Showroom in 2011.

Then-Station Casinos entertainment director Judy Alberti saw the show at South Point (as a guest of Turner’s), and swiftly booked M Town at Santa Fe Station. The act soon moved to Texas Station, and has performed the dual residencies ever since.

Over the years, Austin helped establish the Johnson brothers — also from Milwaukee — in Las Vegas. He also helped Turner keep a gig at the Dunes simply by not accepting an offer from that hotel. Turner had been booked at the lounge when it was sold to Japanese investor Masao Nangaku. The new owner wanted a full Motown tribute show to take Turner’s 20-week residency, as Turner was being cast in a Jeff Kutash production show also at the Dunes.

“So Gregg and I got together, and I had only known him as an entertainment buddy at that time, and he said, ‘The new owners have offered me your weeks at the Dunes,’” Turner said. “Then he said, ‘I told them those dates belonged to you and to work something out with you before talking to me. Those are your dates, and I’m not interested.’”

The production show for which Turner was cast never made it to the stage, canceled by the incoming ownership group. Austin’s decision essentially salvaged 20 weeks of work for his new friend.

“Nobody does that,” Turner said, his voice quivering. “That’s the kind of guy he was. The two people I admire most are my father first, and Gregg Austin next.”

The remaining three members of Austin’s original four-man lineup have no plans to end what is in effect a hit show at two hotels. Ransom, Arnold Parker and Zelmon McBride will continue to suit up, show up and put on a show that is a proven hit.

“We’re going to do it under his name, Gregg Austin’s M Town & More,” Ransom said. “We’ll make sure it stays good, or gets better, for as long as we can do it. Gregg would have wanted that.”

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.