Man of Many Cars: Danny Gans collection brings in $500,000 at auction

Danny Gans' car collection raked in more than half a million dollars when they were put up for bid last weekend as the highlight of the annual Barrett-Jackson auction at the Mandalay Bay.

The three children of the late Las Vegas musical impressionist and superstar were there to watch the nine vehicles and Harley Davidson motorcycle go on the block. Son Andrew brought down the hammer on each sale.

Harley Davidson clutch cover reads:"Danny Gans The Man of Many Voices"

Said daughter Amy: "We felt sad to see them just sitting in the garage and felt we should share them with people who also had a passion for them.

"We feel an overwhelming love for the cars and for Dad."

Son says Danny Gans was planning retirement when he "took some medicine and took a nap and never woke up"

In the latest twist on the official story of how Las Vegas Strip headliner Danny Gans died from an overdose of hydromorphone, his son says that "he just took some medicine and took a nap and he never woke up."

Andrew Gans also revealed that his father was planning his retirement when he died mysteriously in his bedroom in the early hours of May 1st.

But it's the latest admission that Danny Gans was on a regimen of prescription painkillers that raises new questions about earlier denials by Gans' friends and colleagues and the shameful, willful avoidance of news coverage by the Las Vegas media.

In the weeks before the coroner ruled he'd died from taking the powerful opiate known as "the drugstore heroin" and commercially as Dilaudid, friends and acquaintances expressed shock that the supposedly clean-loving Christian has taken any drug whatsover.

In the months to follow, as more revelations about Gans' battle with pain from variois injuries and possible use of steroids due to vocal problems, as well as his ownership of a drug supply, the story told out by friends and family has taken on shadings and twists.

Twenty-year-old Andrew and his sister Amy, the two oldest of Gans three children, interview on KNPR radio spoke on Nevada public radio station KNPR to promote the recently published autobiography, the Voices In My Head (click here to read the first and only major national review).

Planning to retire

The first news to break in the interview was when Andrew told interviewer Ian Mylchreest (right) that his father was preparing for retirement, even though he was only weeks into a longterm engagement at Steve Wynn's Encore Hotel & Casino.

"Planning, maybe possibly. He didn't really talked about it too much. My dad had lots of energy, and tons of vocal left when he passed, but he knew it was going to be coming within the next decade or so, so he was just always thinking about what's next, always planning and always seeing how much further he could go in his carer.There was no, there was never any set date of when he wanted to retire, it was just up to him. And God."

Speaking via telephone from the family's new home in Los Angeles, Andrew said he and his family were not aware that Danny Gans had heart problems (coroner Mike Murphy stated that Gans had hypertensive cardiovascular disease, a condition that causes increased blood pressure and makes the heart work overtime, as well as polycythemia, a condition that caused his red blood cell count to go up- the opposite of anemia).

"No. We knew that he had high blood pressure and some issues with his shoulders and his back where he had a lot of pain cause he had to have surgery. Um, he had a little heart issue but it was never something that he complained about or talked about to much. He wanted to keep-- because it was always something he could handle and he could take care of."

Andrew spoke of the pain his father endured while on stage due to several shoulder surgeries, and claimed he often refained from taking prescribed medicine because the drugs affected his voice.

Mylchreest then asked if he was surprised that prescription drugs played a part in his fathers death.

"That my Dad too painkillers for the pain?"

"Right."

"No. I think that was pretty normal, I had three shoulder surgeries and whenever I was in pain, I took painkillers, just the prescribed amount that the doctor gave me, that's what my Dad did. He'd actually gotten back from playing golf and he had a sore back he just took some medicine and took a nap and he never woke up."

This was at least the third time Gans' children have been trotted out to promote the autobiography or to address the controversial aspects of his death. Gans' wife Julie, who was with him when he died, has not been seen or heard from since the tragedy. She moved the family from the Henderson, Nevada estate to the Los Angeles area shortly afterwards.

Gans' manager Chip Lightman caused a controversy that the Las Vegas news media chose to overlook when he consciously contradicted Julie Gans' statements and the official timeline of Gans death. Henderson Police detectives reiterated there was no evidence of foul play, nor reason to doubt Mrs. Gans' timeline.

Click here to here the entire interview with Andrew and Amy Gans

The interview features selections from Danny Gans' overlooked album. Click here for more information on Brand New Dream..

Danny Gans' son says family knew of no health problems

Danny Gans' wife and kids say they have no idea what killed the beloved Las Vegas entertainer at 52, and insist he had no serious health problems.

In what he billed as "the first interview granted by a family member since Danny Gans' death," (although a New York Times reporter interviewed Gans' children and even got their photo earlier this week), Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke spoke to Gan's widow Julie and son Andrew after the memorial service at the Encore Theatre.

Said Andrew: "We knew he had high blood pressure but was taking something to control that, and he had to watch what he ate."

"So what about the reports that his father wasn't feeling well prior to his death and seemed to be sending signals to close friends that he was aware something was seriously wrong?

"'There are some bad...' he said, searching for the right word, 'rumors out there.'"

Thank the Las Vegas news media and its overly-respectful, hands-off approach. Gans' manager Chip Lightman and his close personal friend beauty queen-turned-TV entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs told Norm last week that the musical impressionist had high blood pressure and family history of heart problems. On May 14th, in a teasing item that has not been followed up on or retracted, Norm wrote: "No one's willing to discuss it, but there's an insurance issue involving Danny Gans and his deal with Encore at Wynn Las Vegas that suggests Gans had concerns about his health."

Norm teased his upcoming interview yesterday afternoon in Twitter postings:

"Coming up: the first interview with Danny Gans family. I just left the reception in the Margaux room at Wynn Las Vegas..."

"In my exclusive interview with Danny Gans' son, Andrew, he's adamant: The family had no inkling of medical problems. Not once? 'Never!'"

"The story will be posted in a few minutes on http://www/normclarke.com. I saw him walking by himself & we chatted for more than 10 min."

"His sister, Amy, 21, was unbelievable during the memorial. She got her dad's humor genes. The family wore red and black, Danny's colors."

Norm also twittered that bronchitis kept Andre Agassi from speaking at the memorial and added in his column:

"At Gans' memorial: entertainers Donny and Marie Osmond, Siegfried Fischbacher, Rita Rudner, Criss Angel, Clint Holmes and Kelly Clinton, Earl Turner, Carrot Top, George Wallace, and The Scintas. Spotted at the reception held by the family in the Margaux room at Wynn: KVBC-TV, Channel 13 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, former Gov. Bob Miller (Andrew Gans attended Bob Miller Middle School), entertainer Gerry McCambridge, and Mitch Fox, host and producer of Nevada Week in Review."

NY Times photo