Mark Vogel put together the best -known church band in the world years ago when his home church pastor asked Vogel to assemble a few of his friends to help lead worship services.
He turned to one of his best friends to play the drums. John Stamos, yes, the John Stamos, agreed.
Later when Stamos became Uncle Jesse on television’s “Full House” and the series needed a band to appear periodically on the show, the little band that was assembled to play at church suddenly became known as “Jesse and the Rippers.”
“That’s the story,” Vogel said from Los Angeles before heading to Garner for a series of appearances this weekend.
Vogel is a composer, singer, musical director, producer, record executive, play write and actor. No. 1, though, is he is an entertainer.
He’s the musical director for Lady Luck on Saturday night during the divas’ Broadway Voices concert at the Garner Performing Arts Center.
He’ll return to his church roots Sunday morning to sing and play at Aversboro Road Baptist Church at 11 a.m., before returning to the GPAC for a holiday concert fund-raiser on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The concert is a pay-what-you-will event with proceeds going to help fund bringing The Wall That Heals to Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 16 through 19. The Wall That Heals is a ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and is accompanied by a mobile education center.
Vogel said his solo show will have some Christmas music and some Broadway or movie tunes. He’ll also share some stories, like the origin of the Rippers, and stories about having worked with some of the best-known entertainers in the world.
As a youngster, he worked with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Rosemary Clooney, Fred Astaire, Joan Rivers, Ginger Rogers and scores of other entertainers during the golden era of entertainment.
The months that he toured with Diller impacted his life.
“She took me to the curtain once before a show and told me to look out,” Vogel said. “You’re not supposed to do that, but she insisted and asked me what I saw. The audience. Then she said to never forget the audience. You are there to entertain them. It isn’t about what you want to sing. The important thing is to sing what they want to hear. Entertain them. Not yourself.”
He was a music minister and worship leader at three different churches during a 21-year period and he often applied a similar principle in worship.
“It really doesn’t matter if you like a particular song,” Vogel said. “What is important is if that song helps you worship. That is the purpose of the song and of gathering for worship.”
He has worked with Sandi Patty, Michael W. Smith and others and helped FFH put 25 records on the top Christian music charts.
But he also has worked with The Beach Boys, John Stamos, Natalie Cole, Paula Abdul, Megan Hilty, Marilyn McCoo, The Fifth Dimension, David Burnham and Eden Espinosa. He has written for 10 television shows and eight motion pictures.
There are lots of stories in his experiences and he’ll tell some of them among selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, Christmas carols, holiday songs and other show songs.
He promises to sing White Christmas, a song that he once sang on NBC with Bing Crosby.
It promises to be a very entertaining afternoon.
Aversboro Road Baptist Church at 11 a.m.
Followed by attendance at GPAC for a holiday concert fund-raiser on Sunday at 2 p.m.