40 years go quick for The Lettermen singer

Donovan Tea has performed with everyone from Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, to Ray Charles and Tony Bennett.

But the 69-year-old Texas native has made his career for 40 years now as one-third of The Lettermen, an indestructible three-man singing group that’s romanced audiences for seven decades.

“To be honest, we haven’t quite come back since COVID to our regular schedule,” Tea said in a Wednesday phone interview. “I don’t know if that’s with our demographics or just the way things are.”

Pre-COVID, The Lettermen would average about 100 concerts a year, but the last couple of years that’s been down to 50-60 a year, including two performances coming up May 13, 2024 at Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse.

This year is the 40^th anniversary of Tea being in the trio, which has changed membership often over the years. “It’s gone by quickly, I can tell you,” he said.

Since 1961, The Lettermen have recorded over 75 albums — 18 certified gold, with a myriad of hits including “When I Fall In Love,” “Put Your Head On My Shoulder,” “Goin’ Out Of My Head,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You,” and “Hurt So Bad.”

The Circa shows will be 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., Monday, May 13, preceded by plated meals. The matinee is already sold out. The Lettermen have performed at Circa just about every year the past 38 years.

“We enjoy being there and Denny and the entire staff,” Tea said Wednesday of owner Denny Hitchcock. “It’s just wonderful to work there. It’s an iconic establishment.”

“One of the fun things for us is that we never know what our our backdrop is gonna be because we perform on the stage right in front of the set of whatever show they happen to be doing at that time,” he added. “We’ve had some interesting backdrops, but it’s always fun and the people have a good time and we enjoy ourselves very much.”

Struck by stars

Tea was able to perform with big celebrities in the ‘70s, as lead singer for The Young Americans, who opened for everybody, including Pat Boone and Sammy Davis, Jr. He tap danced with Fred Astaire and sang backup for Bing Crosby on the classic song “White Christmas.”

“It was like going to college for the Young Americans, for what I wanted to go into opening for all these people,” he said. “And I would always talk to them before or after the show, ask for recommendations, hints, opinions, just pick their brain. And it was interesting.

“I would ask many, many questions, but I would always ask, you know, what I, what do I need to do to get where you’re at and every single one of them gave me basically the same answer,” Tea recalled. “It was, I don’t know how I got here. I just do the best you can. It’s 75% luck and 25% combination of talent and tenacity.”

“It’s not just luck but just being prepared if you get an opportunity and I’ve been very fortunate to have been in this business as long as I have and, and very grateful,” he said.

Tea was also pleasantly surprised at how normal and down to earth many big stars were.

“So many of them were kind to me,” he said. “Tony Bennett was very, very kind to me. Ray Charles gave me great, great advice. Bing Crosby, of course, was iconic and, and working with Fred Astaire was a dream. I’m really a below-average dancer. But we had a good choreographer and it was for the Bing Crosby Christmas special. So we had plenty of rehearsal and they were all just very gracious, very professional. It taught me that you don’t have to be an egomaniac. You can be a regular person and still go on stage or on television and do a good job.”

From Vegas to Lettermen

Before joining the group, Tea was performing in Las Vegas, as the lead singer in the Lido show.

“It was a great, great opportunity for me to get seen,” he recalled. “And as it turned out, the Lettermen were performing across the street at the Flamingo, came across the street to see the show and saw me quite by accident. They kept me in mind and a couple of years later when they had a group change, they gave me a call, asked me to come out to L.A. and sing with them, see if we had a good blend.

“And again, it’s gonna be 40 years and it’s gone by fast,” Tea said. Besides performing, he is a prolific published songwriter. Many of his songs have been recorded, and some have been included in Lettermen performances.

Rob Gulack joined the trio in 2019, just a few months before COVID shutdowns, which forced The Lettermen off the road for a year.

“He’s a great person and a great, great singer and it’s always tough to have a group change,” Tea sad. “He fit right in and he brings a lot to the group and Bobby Poynton who’s also in the group is great. It’s kind of a marriage, you have to get along pretty well and walk together and so far things are going well.”

On Feb. 24, 2020, history in the Lettermen legacy was made when they were honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tea said they went from that high, three weeks later to “oblivion.”

The Lettermen’s longevity is due not just to quality of their performances, but the singers’ personalities and connection with audiences, Tea said.

“You wanna make your audience laugh, you wanna make them cry, happy tears, you wanna pace your show so it’s not ballad, ballad, ballad,” he said. “You want to break it up. The Lettermen are perfect since all the Lettermen have always been three soloists.”

The concerts are a mix of older and newer songs, slower and uptempo, three-part harmonies and solo numbers. The Lettermen repertoire includes arrangements of “Never Enough from the hit film “The Greatest Showman”: a “Sugar” medley (“I Can’t Help Myself,” “Sugar,” How Sweet It Is”) and a “Happy” medley (“Happy,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Happy Together”).

“We pride ourselves in pacing a show that is fun, and enjoyable,” Tea said. “We try to do the kind of show that we go see. When I go to see somebody, I wanna feel like I was thoroughly entertained and that I got to know the entertainer just a little bit and we try to do that every show we do.”

Tickets for the May 13 shows are $61.35 for the 1 p.m. matinee (with a noon lunch), and ​$67.65 for the 7:15 p.m. show, (with a 6 p.m. dinner), available at the Circa box office (1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island, or at 309-786-7733, ext. 2.

For more information on The Lettermen, click HERE.

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