Al Morse saw the late Sammy Davis Jr. play Las Vegas back in the 1970s. Morse was in a showroom with about 1,200 other people but Davis had a way of intimately connecting with everyone in the crowd.
“He came out to the front of the stage, sat on a little stool, lit up a cigarette and started talking,” said Morse, lead singer of Rocky and the Rollers, which performs Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Spanish Springs Town Square. “Sammy made you feel like you were the only one there. It was like he was part of the family. He looked so happy and had so much fun, it made you feel good.”
The same could be said for Alvin (Al) Morse, 63, who has been fronting what is arguably The Villages most popular rock and roll band for the past four years.
“He gives them a tremendous vocal presence,” said Ron Kaissling, an ardent fan who has followed Rocky and the Rollers for nearly a decade. “Al knows the oldies and he sings them the way they were meant to be sung.”
But it’s not just Morse’s voice that touches the throng of fans that turn out in The Villages each time the Rollers perform. Morse has a personality and appeal that transcends music. When he’s up on stage, pouring his heart into a song and suddenly flashes that gap-toothed smile, you can almost feel the warmth of the sun running radiating through the audience. Morse has a bubbling personality and cuddly, teddy-bear presence. Everybody seems to want to hug Morse or shake his hand, and the feeling is mutual.
“The crowd loves Al,” Kaissling said. “He’s one of those guys who loves what he’s doing. And another thing about Al – he’s always smiling.”
Those smiles are not by accident.
“I’ve seen a lot of performers in my time,” Morse said. “Sammy Davis, Little Anthony (of the Imperials), Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Sam and Dave – the one thing I learned from all of them is you have to smile and make people happy.”
Music has always been the driving force in Morse’s life. He grew up near Sanford, Fl., one of 10 children raised by his mother, Joella Morse. She ran a little grocery store located next to their house. While most of Al’s brothers and sisters were out working or playing, he would stay home and for countless hours listen to a little record player.
Eventually, his mother installed a jukebox in the grocery store to get Al to come in. “I would listen to Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters,” he said.
In 1968, Morse said he was the first Black student to win first place at the predominately white Lyman High School talent show in Longwood Fl. The song he sang to win was Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay.”
“The people just kept cheering and I had to come back for an encore,” Morse said. Soon after he turned pro and had his own band called Public Opinion. Then, in 1974, Morse auditioned for rocker Joey Dee, who was famous for such songs as “The Peppermint Twist,” in the early ‘60s.
Dee’s band had been a springboard for such artists as Jimi Hendrix, and also Eddie Brigati, Gene Cornish and Felix Cavaliere, who later formed the Rascals.
Morse hooked up with Dee for over a decade and played all over the world. “It was a great learning experience,” he said. “Joey had worked with big names and he taught me so much about being on stage.”
In 1997, Carl Gardner of the Coasters, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group dating back to the 1950s, asked Morse to join. “It was like a dream,” Morse said. “When I was a kid I was listening to the Coasters. Then I became one of them.”
Morse, who has five children, left the Coasters in 2008. He then toured with various shows, singing everything from the Blues Brothers to Cab Calloway.
One night in 2010, Gerry “Rocky” Seader of the Rollers called Morse as a last-minute substitute for a show in The Villages. “Rocky calls and tells me he needs somebody in a hurry, can I do it,” Morse recalled. “I said sure, show me the microphone.”
The crowd went wild when Morse offered his soulful versions of Motown and other songs. It was something the Rollers lacked. They had always been a tight band, but never really had a dominant, soulful lead singer.
Morse changed all that. “We needed him,” Rocky said.
“After first show, Rocky told me we had three gigs the next week,” Morse said. “Then he handed me a check. That’s when I knew I was with the Rollers.”
It’s a demanding job.
“Rocky is a perfectionist,” Morse said. The singer is also the one who often goes into the crowd to get the dance floor moving. On recent hot, humid and muggy night, it was Morse who jumped off the stage and into the crowd at Lake Sumter Landing. He then started singing “Love Train,” and soon dozens of people were lined up behind him, which their hands on each other’s backs, marching and dancing around the square in time to the music.
“That’s the way Al does it,” a beaming Rocky said from the stage.
For Morse, it’s all in a night’s work. Like his idol, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Morse is a real “soul man” who touches people with music.
“My job is to bring joy and happiness, and make people feel good,” Morse said.
For Al Morse, it’s a job well done.
