Luxe Life Blog

Greg London and his Icons’ lost in translation Vegas style

Posted August 5, 2010 • 5:58 p.m.

Greg London's Icons at the Riviera.

Photo: Courtesy

By Greg London, guest columnist

It’s 6 a.m., and there’s a knock at my door. It takes a second to remember that I’m Greg London, and my lifelong dream of starring on the Las Vegas Strip is a reality now -- and I’m living in a suite at the Riviera. Housekeeping right on schedule ... I forgot to hang my do not disturb sign out … again!

There are some beautiful moments living at the Riviera subsisting on macadamia nuts (two packs for $3), toilet paper lovingly creased into a fan and chocolates on my pillow at night. The swimming pool is refreshingly cold in contrast to the 100 degree coming through my window. I think the music at the pool is on a rotating system. Oh, there’s Kenny Rogers singing “Lady”; it must be 10 a.m. Here I am living in Groundhogs Day. And the employees are incredibly kind to me as I cross my new home (which comes with a casino floor and the best 2 a.m. chicken wings) heading for the theater Wednesday through Sunday afternoons.

The Riviera employees have become my new family and tell me that they are thrilled to have me and my Iconshere. What a warm welcome from everyone located in a fantastic spot on the Las Vegas Strip. It would be very cool to make the Riviera in 2010 as iconic as ever. The Riviera is the very first front line Strip casino resort. They even opened the Queen Victoria Pub here, especially for me I was informed at the opening night red carpet event this month, and plan to rename a menu item in my honor. I hope they won’t go with any traditional English fare with an unfortunate name, as there are several that are embarrassing to pronounce!

Outside at valet, a taxi picks me up to deliver me to a hair color appointment (wait, I don’t color my hair), and what do I see? A huge mobile billboard with me on it, but I seem to be the only person on The Strip looking at it. A few short years have passed with lightening speed since the fateful performance at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., when my producers Bob Byers Jr., David DeLorenzo, Frank Visco and I decided to take a chance, rise above obscurity and bring this exciting, action-packed show to the public.

My West End period back in 2007 was so scary for me. I cannot thank everyone enough. Not only did we survive in London, we won critical and popular acclaim. Icons director David Taylor is a renowned theater director there, and we have forged a lifelong bond continuing with a Reno hit that extended four times, keeping us on the stage, that Bill Harrah originally built for Sammy Davis Jr., for more than 2 1/2 years and opened the doors for us here. I dream of the day that a huge billboard means something to everyone. Nowadays in Las Vegas, you have to believe in yourself, as the days of casinos buying out artists’ contracts are long gone.

The chaos leading up to the first-night preview -- on top of everything else, the sound board blew on June 15 after we had programmed all the sound cues, so we lost one day in the process and opened June 17 instead of the 16th -- was all forgotten when I came off stage to meet the audience after the show. I came face to face with Rich Little, who had shown up unannounced with Las Vegas comedy legend Steve Rossi. My entire life I have considered Rich Little the master impressionist. He told that me he loved my show, including the impressions of the artists he had never heard of (maybe Ozzy Osbourne or Macy Gray). This is not your grandfather’s impressions show. He even told me I could become the most successful impressionist to perform on The Strip, which was very cool for me to hear. This is such a steep and scary climb, and he even gave me a couple of pointers as a Las Vegas entertainment veteran.

Hold on, there is someone at the door. It’s the bellman delivering my Versace suit and underwear from the drycleaners, which I really like a lot because when they deliver my underwear here at the Riviera, it is folded in tissue paper. That is something that normally never happens at my house.

It’s kind of funny, but I never tried to become an impressionist. I can’t even spell impressionist -- I had to use spell check. I was a theater kid in England (I tried to win the role as James Bond in the 1980s), and a musician. I have enjoyed a lot of success as a singer performing all over the world, yet remaining just below the radar since I started in my first band at age 14. Yet this is what I do, and here I am at the Riviera with so many people who I respect referring to me as the master singing impressionist.

The past three years leading up to arriving on The Strip has been an incredible journey. My life has become Gulliver’s Travels, one day a giant and the next navigating the huge ocean that is Las Vegas on my tiny raft. So be careful what you dream; it just might come true. See you at The Riviera!

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter at Twitter.com/vegasdeluxe.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

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