Doug Clark: ‘X’ marks spot for determined dreamer

Robert Vaughn looks remarkably at ease for a musician who carries the weight of our baby boomer generation on his shoulders.

My friend laughs when I utter this modest proposal.

But Vaughn realizes that being 59 puts him in the long-shot category when it comes to a televised talent show like “The X Factor.”

Age shouldn’t matter, of course. Not when you have the eye-popping vocal skills that Vaughn has.

Long recognized as one of the area’s finest singers, Vaughn will have a chance to show off his chops next week when he auditions before “X Factor” producers in Providence, R.I.

“At what age do you stop dreaming about what you want to accomplish in life?” asks Vaughn, who couldn’t be more thrilled at the opportunity.

“I’m just gonna give it my best shot.”

I’ve always admired people who possess that can-do kind of attitude, even though it runs counter to my own personal credo: “Never reach for the stars; you could dislocate a shoulder.”

Vaughn earned his audition spot by winning a contest last weekend in Pendleton, Ore. He decided to try his luck there, he says, after making it into the top dozen two weeks ago in a Northern Quest Casino competition that drew 150 singers vying for an “X Factor” tryout.

Vaughn’s wife, Janine, urged her husband to get involved with the following sound advice: “If you don’t try, you have 100 percent chance of failing.”

The Northern Quest sing-off was won by Spokane’s Jennifer Kemple, the terrific lead vocalist for the local R&B group Big Mumbo.

“Jennifer sounded great,” notes Vaughn. “She had great stage presence and really knocked it out of the park.”

Just fantasizing here, but wouldn’t it be cool to see two of Spokane’s top musicians facing testy talent judge Simon Cowell on prime-time TV?

If you haven’t figured it out, I’m pretty biased when it comes to Robert. I’ve been a fan since the 1980s. Back then you could catch Vaughn singing with the Jazz Conspiracy at Ankeny’s, the Ridpath Hotel’s top-floor venue for dining, dancing and drinking.

A lot has changed since then. The Ridpath, alas, has decayed into a high-rise eyesore.

Vaughn’s singing and guitar slinging, however, are better than ever. He’s been honing his skills for the last 25 years as the featured attraction at Beverly’s inside the posh Coeur d’Alene Resort.

Vaughn is a musical rarity. He can sing any style, from Sinatra, say, to Stevie Wonder.

A human jukebox, too. His repertoire includes 1,000-plus tunes that Vaughn supports with polished finger-style guitar arrangements.

Lounge singers may be the butt of a lot of jokes. None of them applies to Robert Vaughn.

Take the Aretha Franklin hit, “A Natural Woman.” Not many men would have the nerve or the range to attempt the song. Vaughn – changing the lyric to “natural man” – kills it.

“I can sing just about everything and make it mine,” he says.

So will “The X Factor” share my enthusiasm for a 59-year-old dreamer who can still belt it out with the best of them?

Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

“There’s no expiration date on dreams,” Vaughn says. “I may be a baby boomer, but I’m still dreaming.”