Festival Entertainment Part Three: The Fabulous Gemtones to Bring a Vegas Style Act to Ellwood City

Looking for a Las Vegas style stage act without leaving Ellwood City?

Look no further than the Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, Food & Entertainment Festival where The Fabulous Gemtones will bring a bit of Vegas right here to Ewing Park at 8 p.m. on Sunday July 2.

Sometimes what happens in Vegas doesn’t really stay there … especially with talent like this!

The Gemtones bring dance and music to life through four lead vocalists and an experienced band.

Band members include Josephine Crooks (vocals); Gwen Davis (vocals); Mikey Lathom (vocals); Lindsay Fitzpatrick (vocals); Nick Scanga (guitar); Charles Harris (drums); and Laura Daniels (keyboards).

Josephine Crooks is no stranger to the Pittsburgh music scene. She has appeared with the Pittsburgh Musical Theater in Miss Saigon, with John Holt Productions in Best of Broadway, Lady Legends, Divas and Divas Together Again. You may have seen Josie fronting local bands Dancing Queen, Spectrum, Protégé. Persephone’s Dream, and The Holidays. Learn more about Josephine here.

Gwen Davis is a native of Pittsburgh, Gwen joined Leon Daniels and the El Venos in 1998 and the group recorded two music videos for WPGH TV Channel 13. They appeared with the Skyliners, Little Richard, the Dubs, the Vogues, and many others. The group also provided backup vocals for Eddie Holman when he appeared in Pittsburgh. Learn more about Gwen here.

Mikey Lathom first discovered his vocal talent during his teenage years when he won his high school talent show singing Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode.”  Since then, he has sung with several groups including The Laurels, William Dell and Wee Jams and currently performs with Pure Gold.  Mikey was featured on the Nationally Publicized PBS TV Show “Doo Wop Generations.”  He has also shared the stage with many musical greats such as Billy Price, Chuck Corby, The Spaniels, The Marcels, The Jaggerz, The Duprees, The Flamingos, The Drifters, Kid Kyle, The Shirelles and Little Anthony and the Imperials. Learn more about Mikey here.

Lindsay Fitzpatrick has been seen across Pittsburgh and inter-national stages for the past 10 years. She has worked at various theme parks, for traveling cruise lines, and for various regional shows across the country. Lindsay performs locally with the Latshaw Pops Orchestra and has been a part of the Pittsburgh wedding band industry as well. Learn more about Lindsay here.

Nick Scanga has been performing for over 35 years. Credits include The Night Owl Band, who had a local hit, “Lay That Rhythm Down,” and who opened concerts for Blood Sweat & Tears, South Side Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Gil Scott Heron, and Johnny Guitar Watson. He has also performed and co-written songs with Chuck Corby and wrote several with Night Owl. Learn more about Nick here.

Charles Harris, better known as Chas, started playing drums at a young age, basically self-taught.  He played in his high school’s marching band for two years. He also played with his music teachers in various night clubs in South Carolina. He has always loved playing the drums and recently started building drum kits. Learn more about Charles here.

The group is managed by Al Cestra of Cestra Productions. Cestra said the group came together about seven and a half years ago.

“I lived in a housing plan, and they wanted me to put together entertainment for a block party. I called Gwen, and then we went to Josephine’s house, and they sang together.”

He said that was the beginning of the group. Cestra had been managing groups since 1971, so he knew he could find the talent he needed, and he was right. Once he had Gwen and Josephine, he added Mikey and Lindsay along with the rest of the band.

“This is a very unique group with three female vocalists and one male vocalist. They are all great performers and are all different ages and backgrounds. Each one can sing leads and harmonize. Each one is excellent at what they do.”

Cestra said in addition to singing the group dances.

“The group is very high energy, and there’s something for pretty much every age group.

As far as Choreography goes. The vocalists dance on stage and go out into the audience. There is some one-on-one interaction with audience members.”

According to Cestra the group is excited about performing in Ellwood City.

“We are looking forward to doing this particular show because we’ve never been there before.”

He said St. Elmos Fire, another band performing at the festival was instrumental in getting The Fabulous Gemtones booked for the festival.

And Cestra said the group is very experienced after performing all over the tri state area as well being invited to perform in Vegas.

“We truly do become a headliner group in the places that we perform.”

The Fabulous Gemtones are no strangers to numerous area stages including the Syria Shriners, Oaks Theater, Lamp Theatre, Palace Theater, Seven Springs, Kennywood Park, Idlewild Park, Monroeville Mall, Waterfront Mall, and numerous area country clubs.

“The closest we have played to Ellwood City was at Cascade Park in New Castle. We love to do the festivals all over so that people get to see us for the first time in different areas in PA.”

The group’s specialty is classic hits from the seventies to the present.

The Song list for the Festival includes: Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now, September, Boofie Oogie Oogie, Over The Rainbow, Something To Talk About, Vehicle, Black Drawers, New York New York, Hey There Lonely Girl, Knock On Wood, It’s Raining Men, Lady Marmalade, Good Times, Ladies Night, At Last, I Will Always Love You, On The Road, Let’s Groove Tonight, Higher And Higher, Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Could It Be I’m Falling In Love, Turn The Beat Around, Vogue, Dance With Somebody,  and Uptown Funk.

Cestra said if you enjoy the show at the Festival, you should come out on October 6 when The Fabulous Gemtones will be opening for the Rascals & Lovin’ Spoonful at the Palace Theater in Greensburg, Pa. Event details can be found here. Other performances can be found here.

You can also follow them on Facebook.