In an age where “clicks” and “likes” are how we measure success, it’s easy to get caught up in the pursuit of fame.
This week’s Getting Results Award winner grew up in a time when he didn’t have to worry about that.
It wouldn’t have mattered though. Mickey Carroll has always defined success by what he’s done for others.
Carroll, 84, has been playing music as long as he can remember. He knew he wanted it to be part of his life after seeing and hearing Elvis Presley.
“There was opportunity nobody knew about,” Carroll remembered. “It was the beginning of rock ‘n’ roll. I happened to believe it was going to happen and Elvis helped me believe that.”
As a teen, Carroll started a group called Billy and Mickey, and they played with Frankie Avalon and Fabian.
“That was exciting,” Carroll said. “The next thing I knew that was all I wanted to do.”
By the mid-80s, he had moved to South Florida, playing the nightclub scene at hotels like the Fountainbleau and Eden Roc. That’s when he was asked by a local nonprofit to play for a group who had Downs Syndrome. The experience changed his life.
“They were just beautiful. They danced. They were happy. It made everything about music that I was doing inspiring and it set that light, that passion.”
Carroll calls himself a music-life coach. He hopes to inspire the world through music and art.
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He’s written songs with titles like “People love life,” and “It takes a village to raise a child.”
“You have this gift, that’s what I call it, and you can use it,” Carroll said.
His career kept growing. Carroll has played with some of the biggest names in the business. He’s been nominated for a Grammy Award, he’s been part of a gold record and he’s hosted TV shows.
“I’m a hambone, I do everything,” he said with a laugh.
Carroll moved to Mount Dora a little over 30 years ago and brought his sense of community with him.
He stared a nonprofit called Mother J Productions, named after a musical he produced, raising more than $100,000 for local charities.
We met him near the art installment he helped create on the shores of Lake Dora.
“I’m so proud of it,” he said, looking up at the airy open structure he calls the Unity In The Community Archway.
The pavilion was built about 20 years ago. It’s decorated with tiles created by children with themes of love and hope, images that they felt reflected community.
“It says it right there, unity in the community,” Carroll said looking up at the aged tiles over the entrance. “It’s about being proud and together. A wholeness that people can communicate through the entire community.
Carroll was nominated for the News 6 Getting Results Award by longtime friend, Howard Albert.
“He’s done so much for this community,” Albert said. “It’s from the community. He really wants the community to come together and help people. That’s what’s important for Mickey.”
Friend and nonprofit business partner Michael Hurwitz agreed.
“He wanted to do something bigger than just music,” Hurwitz said. “He could have become anything in the industry with his music and songwriting, but he chose instead to become someone who would be giving back to the community, someone who really cared more about people than his own fame.”
“I just wanted to do something righteous, something good,” Carroll said, looking back on his career.
But the work isn’t done. Carroll still writes and he wants to create a record label that supports musicians and audience members with disabilities.
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