Papa’s: “Warm Beer, Cold Pizza & Live Music Nightly” since 1985

Papa’s: “Warm Beer, Cold Pizza & Live Music Nightly” since 1985

By Fran Thompson
Bo Grant came by his chops naturally, as his mother was a soloist for a gospel touring band, The James Cleveland Chorus, back in the 1950’s. He still has her performance gowns. And way before his extended gig singing second lead for the famed Platters, Bo sang in the choir at Mount Olive Baptist Church 30 miles north of Mobile in his home town of Mount Vernon.
By the time he was a teenager, Bo was already proficient behind a drum kit, playing keyboards or strumming a guitar. The quartet he led, The Inner-City Blues Band, played often at the Armory on Dauphin St. in Mobile.
“My mom sang with some of the biggest gospel singers of the day. I would always put my ear to the door when they were rehearsing,’’ Bo said between sets at Papa Rocco’s in Gulf Shores, where he gigs two weekends a month.
“That’s where I got what I like to call my mathematics,’’ he added. “I also started seeing the importance of movement and music together. Performing is not about just notations and words. It’s where I learned the calisthenics of singing.’’
Even during his time in the Army, which included two tours of Vietnam as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, Bo continued to sing.
“I always wanted to be a paratrooper because the uniforms looked so good, but the key for me even in the service was music,’’ he said. “We had a band that used to jam at the NCO clubs.
“I lost many, many friends (in Vietnam). It is part of my reality,’’ he added. “I don’t have PTSD or anything. But I don’t like to talk about it.’’
Fresh out of the Army in 1969, Bo moved to Memphis to join some of his service friends in the Mid-Lads, a soul band that had just scored a contract with Stax Records.
“They said if I came to Memphis, they would have my back, and they did have my back,’’ he said. “But I also had an uncle, my mom’s brother, who was living in L.A. And that is where I wanted to be.’’
It turns out that Bo’s uncle, although he worked at Lockheed, had many musician friends, including Etta James, Wes Montgomery, Stanley Clarke, George Benson and Stanley Turrentine.
“My uncle hung at all the right places,’’ Bo said. “He would take me to the Red Foxx Club when Bill Cosby was his MC. I was learning what music was all about. My plan was always to form a band. Leading a band was embedded in me, and I knew the musicians I wanted with me.’’
Bo reunited The Inner-City Blues Band in Los Angeles, bought a van and eventually found steady work in Las Vegas casinos and the LA club scene. He said when he was not on tour, he would often sit in with bands playing at his usual L.A. haunts.
“I wouldn’t ever say no when somebody asked me to come up and do a few songs,’’ he said. “After I came off the stage one time, somebody came up to me and said I sang pretty well. He gave me his card and asked me to call his manager.’’
That man was Elmer Hopper of the Platters.
“Everyone was passing around cards back then,’’ Bo said. “I ran into the same guy at the same club and he said ‘I never heard from you,’ and he gave me another card. I called my uncle who was a teacher at Blount High School, and asked him if he ever heard of The Platters. He said, ‘Are you crazy?’ I immediately found the card, made the call and said I was interested.’’
Bo’s task was to replace Paul Robi, an original Platter who was by then too sick to perform on stage. His first Platters gig was in Vancouver during a two week/12 show tour of Canada.
“I wanted it so bad,’’ he said. “I would do the songs exactly as I was told. And after that tour, I became Platterized.’’
This was in 1980 and he was now gigging with the band that cut “Only You,” “The Great Pretender” and “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.” Yes, those hits were 30 years prior, and the Platters legacy was already clouded by use-of-name lawsuits. But Bo traveled all over the world from 1981 to 1998 playing with the band that defined the doo-wop era of pop music in the ’50’s and ’60’s.
“They were some enjoyable, entertaining and awesome, wonderful years,” he said. “The music of the Platters is some of the greatest ever recorded, It can’t be duplicated.”
In all that time he missed only one performance, he said, due to a death in his family. About 10 years ago he returned to the Mobile area to care for his since deceased elderly parents, thus ending his stint with the band.
Bo said he is still thankful that Robi prepared him to take his place by bringing him to parties, concerts and clubs and introducing him to stars such as Jackie Wilson, Lisa Terrell, Little Anthony and The Box Tops.
He remembers holiday season residencies in Las Vegas and meeting Ray Charles (he was already friends with Ray’s son) among the highlights of his stint with the band.
After hearing him play on the Marlin Stage at The Wharf, Johnny’s biggest fan, Donna Worley, suggested he go talk to Papa Rocco’s owner Bill McGinnes about playing there. This was in 2017. And Bo still plays Papa’s two weekends every month. (See schedule on page 2).
“The door was open to his office, and I looked in and Papa was doing paperwork,’’ Bo said. “I immediately started singing “Only You.’’ This was before I ever said a word. He dropped his pen and looked up. I’ve been playing there ever since.’’
“He came by and we had a good conversation,’’ McGinnes said. “He knew that Johnny Williams (formerly of the Drifters) sang here for years, and he was looking to establish something similar to that. We decided to schedule four dates and see where it goes from there. And he’s still here.’’
Bo said he could put together a full band to do a Platters review type show if there is such an interest. The songs have already proven timeless, and finding the right band will not be a problem.
“The musicians will all be the top dogs,’’ he said.
In 2005, Bo put out his first solo CD, “Steppin’ Out,” and in 2007 he released his second, “Crossroads.” Bo has also performed at various casinos, veterans homes, nursing homes and other venues throughout the South.
For now he is happy to play in front of a speaker system that includes 100 pre-recorded soundtracks.
“I start the night at one place and end up at another,’’ he said. “I like to respond to who is out there in front of me. I try to give the people what they want. If I don’t know one of the songs they request, I’ll try to substitute something close to it.
“I love it when people come up and take pictures with me on their phones or bring Platters memorabilia for me to sign. It’s wonderful. For me, it’s not about the money. It’s about the fans.’’
The Platters’ distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the burgeoning new genre. The group had 40 charting singles between 1955 and 1967, including four no. 1 hits. At one time, they were the most successful vocal group in the world. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and were the only act to have three songs included on the American Graffiti soundtrack that fueled an oldies revival in the early to mid-1970s.
There has been almost continuous wrangling over the Platters’ name, with injunctions, non-compete clauses and multiple versions of the act touring at the same time. But Bo said that he is quite proud of his completely legal moniker, “Bo Grant – Formerly of The Platters.’’
He said he is also proud to be collecting paychecks from a man who has been hiring local musicians to play at his restaurant seven nights a week since he opened on March 15, 1985.
While the bulk of the early business at Papa Rocco’s was definitely take-out pizza, McGinnes was also working hard to build his bar clientele. And to that end, he determined that live nightly music would set him apart.
“I knew the chains were coming in and I only had a couple years to make my bones delivering pizza while I built the bar business,’’ he said.
National acts, including Buddy Greco, Pete Fountain, Bob Anderson, AL Hirt, Jack Jones, The 4 Aces, Wayne Newton, Boots Randolph and Pat Boone, have graced the stage at Papa’s.
But local musicians have given Papa’s its mojo. The first musician to play there was the late Ken Henderson, who would later team up with former Drifter Williams to form what the most popular duo McGinnes ever booked.
Other early regular acts at Papa Rocco’s included JR Owen, and a trio featuring Jeff Fidler, Jim Hutcheson and Elaine Petty. Another regular, Top Hat, ended up asking Papa to be his best man when he married his wife Jackie. Smokey Otis and Mark Laborde (pictured along with Bo Grant – at Papa’s and with the Platters) have been holding down a Papa’s residency for the past 20 years. And they still draw a huge crowd.
Brent Burns has been around so long that the local tourist commission named him Pleasure Island’s official musical ambassador.
“Papa employed me for years, and I still appreciate that,’’ said Burns, who played there as a solo act and with the late Shine Powell.
“A couple of times we would sit outside and wait for a car to come down Hwy. 59. We had some good nights too. But there was just nobody on the streets in the winter here in the 1980’s. But Papa hired us anyway. You don’t forget that.’’
Almost 40 years later, the warm beer-lousy pizza tag still draws attention, but Papa’s support of live music draws admiration from local players and music lovers both.