Funny you should ask. Clint Holmes’ former musical director is in the process of gearing up an Oct. 8-9 concert at Suncoast, Celebrate Sondheim, featuring a cast of dozens (literally), including Kelly Clinton-Holmes. Fayne is a regular presence at the many musicals and revues presented by local troupe RagTag Entertainment, from which some of the Celebrate Sondheim talent was recruited. Prior to that, he was one of three headliners at a Sept. 30 benefit,
Fayne made headlines in March 2010 when a benefit concert for him sold out the Suncoast Showroom without any advertising whatsoever. The purpose of the star-studded tribute was to retire $200,000 in outstanding medical bills from a cancer scare Fayne experienced in late 2009. "Suspicious" cells, which may or may not have been cancerous, were detected in Fayne’s esophagus, which was removed. Tissue from the composer/conductor’s stomach was also removed, in order to construct a new esophagus. Post-surgical complications required Fayne to be placed in a medically induced coma, from which he awoke on his 63rd birthday (Dec. 17, 2009).
Despite the surgery, Fayne has been able to sing with the Las Vegas Tenors (which he founded) again and, other than being quite a bit thinner, looks much as he always has. You’ll probably see him tickling the ivories when Holmes sets up shop at Las Vegas’ Smith Center for the Performing Arts as jazz artist in residence. The surgical ordeal was one of a series of hard knocks Fayne has endured in the last few years, including a decline in cruise-ship gigs and a wipeout in the real estate market. But, as you can see, the seemingly indestructible Fayne is still very much a presence on the Las Vegas music scene.
