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I would like to know more about a lounge singer by the name of Richard Cheese. He did the opening song for the movie, Army Of the Dead, “Viva Las Vegas” with Allison Crowe. I understand he has played in Las Vegas multiple times, but I’ve never heard much about him. What can you dig up?
Richard Cheese (real name Mark Jonathan Davis) is an American lounge singer, musician, and comedian known for his musical act that transforms popular rock, metal, hip-hop, and pop songs into smooth jazz and lounge/swing arrangements.
He performs with his band, Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine (a play on "Rage Against the Machine"), converting aggressive and explicit songs into Frank Sinatra-style crooner performances. This creates a deliberate comedic contrast between the original songs' content and his smooth delivery. So do the tuxedos that he always wears and his deliberately over-the-top lounge-singer style. Cheese has gained a somewhat cult following for his ironic, satirical, and sophisticated performances. He's always in character in tuxedo and remains so in interviews.
He's 60, born in 1965 in New York, and has released countless albums since 2000, including Tuxicity, (2002), I'd Like a Virgin, The Sunny Side of the Moon, Cocktails with Santa, Back in Black Tie, Richard Cheese's Big Swingin' Organ!, and our favorite, Licensed to Spill.
His bandmates all go by cheesy pseudonyms: Bobby Ricotta (piano, keyboards), Frank Feta (drums, percussion), and Billy Bleu (upright and electric bass).
He has a connection to the Dead movies. His cover of the Disturbed's song "Down with the Sickness" was featured in the 2004 Zack Snyder-directed remake of Dawn of the Dead and in May 2021, Snyder's Army of the Dead movie featured Cheese singing the opening song, "Viva Las Vegas," in a duet with Allison Crowe. He also appeared in The Hangover during the wedding chapel scene.
He and the band perform from time to time in Las Vegas, the last as far as we know in September 2023 at the Rocks Lounge at Red Rock.