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Our Mission
Our mission is
to provide quality live musical entertainment at any venue we are invited to perform at. Combined, "TOPAZ" has over 150 years of experience
in the performing arts.
Please note several members of "TOPAZ"are National recording artists.
Stephen Goodchild was a Nashville Recording Artist with two hit records. He
also was nominated in the early 1990's as the Male Country vocalist of the year. Stephen was also honored by the USO
with its most prestigious award for entertaining the US Navy troops at USO functions for over 20 years.
Susan Caruso (Renee') was a Recording Artist in The Boston area having
appeared on numerous television variety shows. She has several records to her credit.
REGGIE
CARUSO:
Keyboards,
guitar and vocals
Reggie began his musical career at age thirteen when he played his first
professional gig in Boston. He joined a local rock band, “Little John and
the Nocturnes” when he was sixteen. After hearing his idol, Jimmy Smith,
arguably the best jazz organist in the world, Reg bought a Hammond B-3. He started the “Ron Regis Trio”, which consisted of B-3 organ, guitar and drums. He met and fell in love with vocalist, Susan Rene’ who subsequently
joined the band. They played all over the New England area and eventually added
more pieces to become the “Ron Regis Revue”. A most sought after
keyboardist, Reggie also played with a lot of other bands in the area . He was
asked to join another popular band in the Boston area called the “Vargas Trio.”
Reggie kept quite busy with the two bands and he and Susan played several general business gigs as well as their club
dates. When he and Susan moved to Florida, they joined the group, “TOPAZ”, which they still have today.
SUSAN
CARUSO:
Vocalist
and percussion
Susan’s
first memory of singing was when she was 4 years old. She sang at a cousin’s
wedding, with the Tony Bruno Orchestra. That did it, as they say. She was hooked. Her mother and her sister were notable vocalists
in the Boston
area. Coming from a musical family, there was always singing in the house. Whenever there was a wedding, a party or just being at a nightclub, Susan, her mother,
and her sister were always asked to please sing. It was just the natural thing
to do. Susan’s first professional gig was with the “Ron Regis Trio”,
a popular club band in the Boston area. She married leader, Regis (Reggie), and they went on to be one of the most popular bands in the New England area. Susan and Reggie moved to Florida in 1979, and joined musical forces with “TOPAZ”. They
have been performing in and around the Central Florida area since.
STEPHEN GOODCHILD
Lead guitarist and vocals
Stephen first started playing violin at age 9. It was noticed one day
that he wanted to play violin sideways like a guitar and the next Christmas a guitar was under the Christmas tree. That was
over 40 years ago and Stephen has been a force in music business ever since. Stephen has enjoyed an international
musical background and has performed in England, Germany, Switzerland and all over the Southeastern US. After High School
Stephen started performing professionally which allowed him many opportunities and brushes with fame. In 1992 he was signed
with Warner Bros and released several "Country" songs which did well nationally and resulted in his nomination as the 1992
Male Country Vocalist of the Year on Independant labels. Steve has been with "TOPAZ" on and off since its inception and remains a dedicated
founding member to date.
CHARLES GERLACH
Drummer and vocalist
Chuck began
is music career at a young age playing the trombone in school. Yes, he was a band geek! He also sang in a church choir and in a four man vocal group. After college he began
playing drums to fulfill a long postponed desire and the rest, I guess, is history. Or is he still trying to make history?
(Please don't tell him it may be too late.) He has played in several bands in the Orlando area over the years playing several
types of music from Country to Rock and a few in between. Chuck enjoys many types of music which is why "TOPAZ" is a perfect fit. Being the youngest
member of the band it's been hard to get any "respect" from the other members, but it's always entertaining playing with the
"older generation". <g> Come out and see "TOPAZ" and you'll see what he means.
DAN MORELLI
Bassist and vocalist
Dan plays
drums, guitar, and bass. He has been playing since 1967 in the greater Boston area and was Influenced by Tower of Power bass
player, Francis Prestia. Dan played in a popular Boston band Roundabout for 8 years. He then moved to Orlando, Florida in
1990. Shortly there after Dan performed with the popular Celebrity Cats show band and Earthbeat. He freelanced for
two years in local club scene and frequently sat in with "TOPAZ" to fill in when a band member was unable to play. Dan offically joined "TOPAZ" fulltime in November of 2005. We are certainly glad he did. Dan brings
solidarity and experience to the band to round out the skills in this talented group.
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