- Bobby "Bo" Wagner was an American dancer, Doctor, and was a band member from the rock "n" roll band Starbuck. He appeared on several shows like The Mickey Mouse Club and The Lawrence Welk Show. He was born in a show business family and began dancing at the age of 5. He died on June 20 2017 in Santa Monica, California.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Terry_Macneil-123
- Bobby "Bo" Wagner was born in 1945 in a show biz family. He started on TV when he was just five years old on a TV show that was broadcasted in the afternoons five days a week. Wagner would sing, tap dance, play musical instruments and do comedy skits. At the age of seven he started performing at nightclubs and hotels across the country with the biggest stars. During these earlier years, Wagner also began honing his acting skills by doing musical theater and summer stock. He made his first movie "Conorade" a civil defense movie, at the age of eight. When Wagner was ten years old he was a TV guest on the Original Mickey Mouse Club as a featured drummer and tap dancer. He also did numerous personal appearances with different Mouseketeers such as Tommy Cole, Annette Funicello, Bobby Burgess and Cubby O'Brien. When he was 13 years old, Wagner had his own show in Las Vegas, Nevada and was commuting to and from Los Angeles to Las Vegas performing on the Lawrence Welk TV Show in Hollywood and the glamorous hotels in Las Vegas. Bo Wagner and his first Las Vegas Show, "The Bo Wagner Quintet", first worked downtown Las Vegas at the Fremont Hotel opposite Wayne Newton. Then Bo Wagner and his different groups, The Bo Wagner Review, Wagner, Hart & Co. and for several years with his partner Chet DeMilo, moved to the Tropicana Hotel on the famous Las Vegas strip and then to Caesars' Palace, plus the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada, the Wagon Wheel Hotel and Sahara Hotel in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and Nugget Casino and Hotel, with Liberace, in Sparks, Nevada. Throughout Wagner's career he worked a lot for the Disney organization. Wagner's first band opened Tomorrowland's Space Bar and Disney added Roberta Shore, another Disney personality that was featured on the Annette series on the Mickey Mouse Club, as his band's girl singer.
He spent a year working at Disney World in the early 70's as a member of the Pearly Band, the World Band, backing acts at night at the Contemporary Hotel, like Howard Keel and Mel Torme, doing concerts playing drums, marimba and vibes for Roger Williams and the Supremes, doing his song and dance nightclub act at conventions with the Disney World Review and danced around the park with Mary Poppins as the Dick Van Dyke chimney sweep character and as a mouseketeer. They worked him so much that he usually didn't have time to go home and would just sleep in the underground dressing room. With the band Starbuck, Wagner and the band worked continuously, for several years, at Disneyland and Disney World doing concerts, proms and bringing in the New Year in front of the castle at Disneyworld. On Starbuck's first visit to Disneyland, the Disney Studio brought Wagner out to the Disney Studio lot in Burbank, California to meet the new group of Mouseketeers. They wanted him to explain what it was like when he filmed there with the original group of Mouseketeers. They even had Wagner take pictures with new Mouseketeers with Mickey Mouse ears on top of his long rock & roll hair and beard. Disney used this photo as advertisement for Starbucks performances at Disneyland. After moving to Hollywood, Wagner had to change his name in order to become a member of Screen Actors Guild and do movies, because of Robert Wagner the actor. Once in Hollywood, the now known "Bo Wagner" continued to perform in the Hollywood night spots, such as Moulin Rouge, Ciro's and Macambo Night Club, with the same headlining stars he had been previously performing with in night clubs and hotels throughout the country. Several of these stars now had TV variety shows and would have Bo on as a guest such as Gisele McKenzie Show and the Jimmy Durante TV Special.
Besides performing in night clubs and on TV, Wagner began filming movies and TV sitcoms like Gypsy with Natalie Woods and Rosalind Russel and I Dream of Jeannie with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman. During the 60's Bo recorded a lot of records with many of the biggest stars and was a member of two hit groups: The Lewis and Clarke Expedition, Eternity's Children, and also touring drummer with the Fifth Dimension.
For the rest of the 70's, Wagner was a member of the hit recording group Starbuck. Starbuck's biggest hit was Moonlight Feels Right. It is usually remembered because of the excellent stylistic vocal by Bruce Blackman and by the marimba solo performed by Wagner. This would be the first time that a top 40 hit single included a marimba composition. Throughout Wagner's career, he has continued to perform from time to time at the MGM Grand Hotel, Riviera Hotel, Showboat Hotel, Sahara Hotel and for several years with Liberace at the Hilton Hotel. At the same time, Wagner had a side career as a print model for major fashion magazines. From time to time, Wagner would take a break and fly to New York and Los Angeles to do photo shoots. There was never a dull moment for Wagner. All in all, Wagner had an exciting career in the entertainment industry and was skilled in multiple fields: Dancing, Choreography, Singing, Comedy, Music, Arranging, Recording, Producing and Acting.
Being involved in the entertainment industry from a very early age, Wagner was exposed to all the different vices, and he saw it for what it was. He chose early on to be healthy. When he was seventeen he had a serious back injury, he couldn't stand up, could not dance, could not get in and out of cars. So he visited an orthopedic doctor and was told that his injury was not serious enough to operate. He was sent home to relax, and was told there was nothing else that could be done for him, except to take tranquilizers. So for a few months he took tranquilizers with no results, and was told that he may be like this forever. Somebody suggested he visit a chiropractor, so Wagner went to see one and in 15 minutes he was able to stand up straight and dance, and even better he was able to get rid of the tranquilizers.
Bobby "Bo" Wagner had passed away on June 20, 2017 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He was survived by his parents and husband (or partner) "Chet DeMilo".- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gabriel Finch Himself
- SpouseChet DeMilo(? - June 20, 2017) (his death)
- During the 60's Bo recorded a lot of records with many of the biggest stars and was a member of two hit groups: The Lewis and Clarke Expedition, Eternity's Children, and also touring drummer with the Fifth Dimension.
- At the age of seven he started performing at night clubs and hotels across the country with the biggest stars. During these earlier years Bobby Wagner also began honing his acting skills by doing musical theater and summer stock. He made his first movie "Conorade" a civil defense movie, at the age of eight.
- Bo Wagner was born in a show biz family. He started on TV when he was just five years old on a TV show that was broadcasted in the afternoons five days a week. "Bobby" Wagner as he was known then would sing, tap dance, play musical instruments and do comedy skits.
- Bobby Wagner was less than six years old when he was already appearing in musical variety TV shows that used to air in the early 1950's. His main acts on TV were as a tap dancer and drummer.
- Bobby Wagner, as he was first known, was involved from a very early age in the industry, as his father and mother were entertainers. Thus, it was only natural that Bobby Wagner would display natural inclination to be in the same industry.
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