'Boy band' rocks Roswell senior living community

ROSWELL, Ga. - The Brookdale Boys certainly are not your typical boy band, but they sure do know how to put on a show.

The group joined together at Brookdale Chambrel Roswell, a local senior living community.

"It's fun playing in a group like this. Every time we play, I think we get a little bit better," Joe Dickman said. He's one of the original members of the group.

Bill St. Amour founded the group. He's joined by Dickman, Doug Brown, Vince Rio, Wayne Pate, and Tom McElroy. It started almost as a fluke.

"The first year or so I came there was a lady named Doris, and she played the piano. I started playing on and off with her, and then the guys started moving in, and we started playing mandolin and the guitars, and she's the one who came up with the name, the Brookdale Boys." St. Amour explained to Good Day's Lindsay Tuman. 

Now St. Amour gets a heads-up anytime someone moves into Brookdale Chambrel Roswell. 

"We enjoy doing it. We have a lot of fun together, it's work, but it's a good time. And residents seem to enjoy it. And you couldn't ask for a better bunch of guys because we make good music together," St. Amour said.

You could call the members experienced. They range in age from 78 to 98.

"If you put us all together, I figure we have about 350 years of musical experience. And this has been one of the highlights. The best thing about the group is the audience. They are very forgiving, and they seem to enjoy us, so we have a lot of fun with it," Rio said.

They perform once a month and practice at least a couple of days a week.

"Perfect, perfect, keep the life going, see? I'll soon be 90, and I'm more viable because of it. It's fun, we laugh a lot, and that's important," McElroy said.

It's been an unexpected joy for the members, most thought they had left their performing days behind.

"You get to a point when you get older when you wonder if you're going to run into a situation like this because you play and sing all your life, and you think it's time for it to come to an end, but they're here, and it's been very good," Pate said.

"I kind of harbored that interest in the back of my mind, but I thought that would probably be too much wishful thinking, but it's been a real good experience," Doug Brown said.

They say they play for themselves, but more so for their audience. They perform for the residents in independent living and memory care once a month.

"It's a lot of fun because it's a mission in a lot of ways, to provide for the people here. And I know they enjoy it, especially when we can play something they are familiar with, and they can sing along," St. Amour said.

Through the Brookdale Boys, they're continuing their journey of music and performing, and perhaps most important of all - friendship.