I'm Back!
Marcus Dagan, whose career began at the Rum Runners
restaurant in 1976, is delighted that his current
position of entertainer on the Norwegian Cruise Lines'
Norwegian Majesty allows him to return to the Island
every week, where he enjoys retracing old steps and
friendships. (Photo by Tamell Simons) |
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By
Nancy Acton
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If, on some distant day, someone is pondering what epitaph
might sum up the life of Marcus Dagan, perhaps the answer will
be found in the words of his own song, ‘I Went to Paris':
“Some of it is magic, some of it is tragic, but I have had a
good life all the way.”
The multi-talented, British-born singer-songwriter, pianist
and raconteur is not wasting a minute enjoying the present and
planning the future, even as he savours memories of a past
that reads like a definitive work on ‘How to Enjoy Life While
Singing for your Supper.'
Mr. Dagan's professional story begins in Amsterdam where the
son of entertainers, and a classically trained pianist,
accepted his first gig playing in a little Jewish nightclub.
In what would become the standard pattern of his life, this
job led to another, and he found himself entertaining in a
group of similar venues in Paris and Brussels before returning
to London. There, in 1976, he said goodbye to a friend who was
off to Bermuda to work as a graphic designer, never imagining
that he would soon follow suit.
“One day he called me and asked, ‘Do you want to work in
Bermuda? There's this guy, David Pedro, who is looking for a
pianist for his restaurant',” Mr. Dagan relates. “I said,
‘Sure, why not?' '' A further phone call from Mr. Pedro
clinched the deal, and the singer was on his way.
The aircraft arrived late, and he was further delayed leaving
the airport because the guitar which he played at the time was
damaged en route. With the formalities over, his new employer
took him straight to the Rum Runners in Hamilton to meet the
staff.
Now, there is something that must be understood up front about
this multi-talented gentleman: a piano - any piano, anywhere -
is an irresistible magnet, so when he discovered one sitting
in a corridor of the Front Street eatery he sat down and
played it until 2 a.m.
“It was great, and I played at Rum Rummers for six months,” he
recalls. “I would buy sheet music from the Music Box and learn
new songs based on people's requests so that I could keep
adding to my repertoire. That is why today I can play
everything from Gershwin to Tom Waits, and everything in
between.”
He also sings in many languages.
In fact, Mr. Dagan says he owes his ensuing, successful career
to Bermuda, where he grew and matured artistically. Despite
the many wonderful countries he has since visited, the
thousands of miles he has covered, and the countless exotic
locations in which he has performed, he still says: “God, I
love this Island.” So much so, in fact, that his latest album,
‘Hello Again', includes a song which he began writing here all
those years ago. Entitled ‘(I need) All of the Sunshine', it
equates the warmth of the sun with the warmth of love: “It
felt like I held sunshine in my hands when I held you near to
me, the winter sky's falling, I hear love calling, you can
hear me sing like a summer bird upon the wing, and now I need
all of the sunshine ... I believe loving you will bring.”
While here, he also gave a concert with Mr. Julian Hall to
benefit the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society, and a solo
concert to a full house at City Hall.
“I must have told hundreds of people about Bermuda since I
left because I just had the best time, and still have friends
that I made here, including Terry Corday, who now lives in New
York and with whom I am still in contact,” Mr. Dagan says.
“In fact, in 1992 I designed the Cup Match T-shirt, ‘I was
stumped by cricket in Bermuda'. A friend did the graphics, and
Terry and I sold a ton of them.”
Just where the entertainer has played in the ensuing decades
reads like a who's who of top spots in New York, Las Vegas
(where he has a home), Paris, Monte Carlo, Israel, England,
Canada, Japan and Hawaii, to name but a few, and where
everyone from little old ladies to stars like Rod Steiger,
James Caan, Buddy Greco and Steve Lawrence have returned again
and again to enjoy his music. He has also done private shows
for Burt Bacharach and Frank Sinatra.
“The first night at the Sands Hotel in Atlantic City I was
asked to perform for Sinatra after my show but I said ‘No'
because I had promised to take my daughter to school the next
day, and I also had an audition for Caesar's, so I couldn't
play late,” Mr. Dagan remembers.
“As I was leaving I met Sinatra and a friend coming in. He
stopped and said, “Are you the guy who said ‘No?' I explained
my reasons, and he said, “For the next four nights you are
mine, so I played every night until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. - and I
got the job at Caesar's.”
Among other accolades, Mr. Dagan is still the only entertainer
to have played at the Eiffel Tower restaurant in Paris, and
its namesake in Las Vegas, the latter of which he says is
better.
Stories like this dot his conversation, and they are
delivered, not as endless name-dropping punctuation, but
simply as expressions of quiet pride in what he has done. And
Mr. Dagan does plenty. In fact, it would take a book to record
it all - and he's a long way from done yet!
Currently, he is the resident entertainer on the Norwegian
Cruise Lines' Norwegian Majesty, sailing between here
and the US, where his unique blend of music and humour is
proving just as popular as it is on land. His audiences
comprise all tastes and nationalities, but an indication of
the cosy rapport he builds with each week's group is perhaps
best summed up when he says: “There is a lot of interaction
between the passengers and everybody gets along. There are
times when I don't want to let people go.”
He does admit, however, that Bostonians are his favourite
audience because “they are intelligent and they listen”. In
fact, he hopes to “thank” all these fine people by fitting in
a gig or two in their area sometime soon.
Asked how he defines his performance style, Mr. Dagan says:
“Smooth, sophisticated .....” and he might have added
“seductive”, for even a cursory listen to one of his albums
confirms that, for the ladies, there is undoubtedly a hormonal
tweak.
Described as “a singer's singer”, his delivery is strictly
soul to soul, and this is no accident, for his first priority
is the lyrics.
“I sing a song from the inside out, and some of the songs
require almost getting into a character,” he explains. “When I
record, I lay my track down first, then I tell the musicians
to go home and get inside the lyric first and then play what
they feel.”
While his voice is often compared to Neil Diamond's, and he
does sing his songs, Mr. Dagan remains his own man, putting
his special style on the phrasing, the rhythm, and in some
cases the original words. As a result, his audiences quickly
realise they are listening to something unique. His delivery
can run the gamut from smokey and sexy to romantic or raspy,
all of it pumped through the aorta of genuine emotion, upon
which all of his songs are based.
“My voice has gone through a lot of changes,” he says. “It has
gotten richer and deeper.”
No two performances are alike, and Mr. Dagan never grows tired
of what he does.
“Each night is a journey,” he says. “Within 20 minutes I know
what the audience will go for. I know where I can take chances
and do some original or obscure songs. There is a lot of
psychology in it.”
Although he no longer sleeps with a notebook by his bed, he
has accumulated reams of paper filled with random phrases and
half-completed ideas which he promises “some day” to sort and
file - and complete, of course. And that is excluding the
countless other ideas running around in his head. Any and
everything inspires his creative juices - old friends, foreign
shores, memories, experiences.... Sensed rather than revealed
behind some of the words are chapters of a man whose tapestry
of life includes its share of torn threads. Surmounting all,
however, is a pervasive feeling that this particular weaver of
musical magic is, at the end of the day, the embodiment of his
own, upbeat song: a ‘Late Night Survivor'.
“Most singer-songwriters do their own life, so I guess in some
ways my songs are a diary,” Mr. Dagan concedes. “A lot of them
are serious in content, which is why I incorporate humour into
my performance. It lets the pressure off for the listeners and
me.”
Long after his obligatory hours are done, he will happily play
on..and on, either for the customers he was paid to entertain,
or where there is a piano in any other place into which he has
wandered.
Asked how entertainers like himself, who put their heart and
soul into their work, cope with patrons for whom they are
simply a background noise, he reminds that, first and
foremost, they are there to enjoy themselves, and then admits
that sometimes he plays progressively softer until they notice
and ask him to turn up the volume.
While Mr. Dagan's professional life has always been nomadic,
he does have many shoreside “anchors” - six address books
packed with the names and addresses of people he has met, as
well as his teenaged children, Courtney and Matthew, whom he
describes as “great human beings” and with whom he keeps in
regular touch, and sees whenever he can.
A practicing Jew, the entertainer defines his religion as “a
major part of whom I am”, and seeks out Jewish communities
wherever he goes. Shortly after arriving here in 1976, he was
part of a tiny nucleus of Jews who organised a Passover seder,
and during regular trips to New York, he brought back dozens
of fresh bagels for his Jewish friends. Even in Japan, where
he performed for many months, he found a well-established
Jewish community.
As much as music is his passion, Mr. Dagan's life is not
one-dimensional. He loves to cook, and constantly seeks out
interesting food wherever he is, often bringing home unique
regional ingredients. Part of his pleasure in eating out is
analysing the flavours of dishes that tickle his taste buds,
and then trying to replicate them at home.
“If I hadn't been a singer I would have been a chef,” he says.
The foundation of this interest began in upstate New York,
where he not only played in a restaurant, but was asked to
help out in other ways. Through watching chefs and tending
bar, he eventually wound up running the place. With Mr. Dagan,
no experience is wasted, so sometime in the future he aims to
open a bar or restaurant in the Caribbean, where he will also
entertain. More immediately, he will complete the season on
the Norwegian Majesty, and then move on to other gigs.
Meanwhile, he is enjoying looking up old friends here, making
new ones, and generally enjoying the Island he loves. And of
course, if there happens to be a piano in his path .... well,
who knows, you might just catch a bit of “Marcus magic.” If
not, his two CD's, ‘Old Friends' and ‘Hello Again', can be
found at the Music Box store in Hamilton. For further
information visit his website at marcusdagan.com
