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== Origins ==
== Origins ==
The first Elvis impersonator was a 16 year old boy named Jim Smith. In 1956, shortly after Elvis began to rise in popularity, Smith began jumping on stage and imitating Presley. Smith's physical resemblance to Elvis and his mannerisms happened to catch the attention of DJ Norm Pringle of Victoria, BC Canada, who had been playing "That's All right Mama" and "Heartbreak Hotel" on the radio. Smith was featured several times on Pringle's regular TV show, though it should be noted that Smith only pretended to sing and play along with the music since he could neither sing nor play the guitar.<ref>Victoria Daily Times, December 9, 1957</ref>
The first Elvis impersonator was Johnny Elvis Foster began jumping on stage and imitating Presley. Foster physical resemblance to Elvis and his mannerisms happened to catch the attention Foster &

Many other Elvis impersonators appeared while Elvis was still alive, evolving mainly out of small town talent [[competitions]] which took their influences from major music artists of that time. It wasn't until Elvis's untimely [[death]] on [[August 16]], [[1977]], that impersonating Elvis started to become [[Popular culture|popular]] in the mainstream. The large growth in Elvis impersonators seems tightly linked with his ever-growing [[iconic]] status.
Many other Elvis impersonators appeared while Elvis was still alive, evolving mainly out of small town talent [[competitions]] which took their influences from major music artists of that time. It wasn't until Elvis's untimely [[death]] on [[August 16]], [[1977]], that impersonating Elvis started to become [[Popular culture|popular]] in the mainstream. The large growth in Elvis impersonators seems tightly linked with his ever-growing [[iconic]] status.


Revision as of 20:39, 30 June 2011

Elvis Impersonators

An Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies famed American musician Elvis Presley. Professional Elvis impersonators can work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts are in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis. There are even a number of radio stations[1][2] that exclusively feature Elvis impersonator material.

Many impersonators sing Presley's songs. "While some of the impersonators perform a whole range of Presley music, the raw 1950s Elvis and the kitschy 1970s Elvis are the favorites."[3]

Origins

The first Elvis impersonator was Johnny Elvis Foster began jumping on stage and imitating Presley. Foster physical resemblance to Elvis and his mannerisms happened to catch the attention Foster & Many other Elvis impersonators appeared while Elvis was still alive, evolving mainly out of small town talent competitions which took their influences from major music artists of that time. It wasn't until Elvis's untimely death on August 16, 1977, that impersonating Elvis started to become popular in the mainstream. The large growth in Elvis impersonators seems tightly linked with his ever-growing iconic status.

American protest singer Phil Ochs appeared March 1970 in Carnegie Hall concert wearing an Elvis-style gold lamé suit - made for him by Presley's costumer Nudie Cohn. His performance may be considered the first significant Elvis impersonation.[4] In the mid-1970s, Andy Kaufman made an Elvis impersonation part of his act. He is considered to be one of the first notable Elvis impersonators and Elvis himself said that Kaufman was his favorite impersonator.[5] In his act, Kaufman would unexpectedly launch into a skilled impersonation of Elvis Presley.[6] As Kaufman gained fame, the impersonation was used less and less.

According to a popular joke, Elvis himself entered an Elvis look-alike contest at a local restaurant shortly before his death, and came in third place. This joke was featured as a news item in the Weekly World News, and has been misunderstood to be factual by people who do not realize that the Weekly World News is well known to publish outlandish and often unbelievable articles.[7] This joke may have its origins in Charlie Chaplin, who once did enter a look-alike contest and is often reported to have also come in third, although Chaplin's actual ranking in the contest is not known.[8]

Types of Elvis impersonator

There are many differing types of Elvis impersonator. Most fall under the following main types which are:

Example of the "fun/comedy"-level Elvis impersonator, seen here "walking in Memphis."

There are differing levels of impersonation which depends largely on who is doing the impersonation and for what purpose. They mainly fall under three main levels of impersonation which are:

  • Professional Full time entertainers who usually do it to earn a living.
  • Amateur Enthusiasts or people who do it for a hobby.
  • Fun / Comedy Usually done as part of a parody.

"There are heavily bearded Elvii, four-year-old Elvii, and Elvis duos; Italian Elvii, Greek Elvii, Jewish Elvii, Fat Elvii, a Lady Elvis, even a Black Elvis. Impersonator impresario Ed Franklin boasts, 'We've had every type of Elvis there is in the world.' "[9] Professional Elvis impersonation can be called a special branch of the entertainment industry. "Michael Chapa, an Elvis impersonator who works in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, helped entertain more than 2500 of his relatives at what is believed to be the country's largest Hispanic family reunion ..."[10]

There are also some Elvis impersonators who specialise in experimenting with gender, sexuality, race, taste and decency. According to social historian Eric Lott, "the widespread embarrassment and innuendo surrounding Elvis impersonation points more directly to the homoerotic implications built into such acts."[11] There are even some performers who satirize other Elvis impersonators.[12]

According to Gael Sweeney, Elvis impersonation "offers a spectacle of the grotesque, the display of the fetishized Elvis body by impersonators who use a combination of Christian and New Age imagery and language to describe their devotion to The King. 'True' impersonators believe that they are 'chosen' by The King to continue His work and judge themselves and each other by their 'Authenticity' and ability to 'Channel' Elvis's true essence. True impersonators don't 'do Elvis' for monetary gain, but as missionaries to spread the message of The King. Especially interesting are those who do not perform, per se, that is, they don't do an Elvis act, they just 'live Elvis,' dressing as The King and spreading His Word by their example."[13]

However, the Elvis industry includes "professional Elvis impersonator registries." The international guide I am Elvis, for instance, contains "photos, repertoire, and personal testimonies that serve to materialize the phenomenon of Elvis impersonation and further institutionalize it, including female Elvii, child Elvii, Black Elvii, El Vez the Mexican Elvis, and scores of British, German, Greek and Indian Elvii."[14] According to George Plasketes, there are "legions of impersonators. Airlines have offered discount fares for look-alikes on Elvis holidays... His omnipresence hauntingly hovers..."[15]

In August 1996, Elvis Herselvis, a lesbian Elvis impersonator, who had been invited to take part in the Second International Elvis Presley Conference held at the University of Mississippi in order "to test the limits of race, class, sexuality and property...," was banned from this event by the conservative sponsors of Elvis Presley Enterprises.[16] This ban and some other complaints and controversies concerning unorthodox Elvis impersonation show the powerful influence the Elvis industry still has on mass-media related activities of professional impersonators[citation needed].

Contests, festivals and events

There are many Elvis contests, festivals and other events held across the world celebrating Elvis and his many impersonators. Events tend to attract large numbers of Elvis impersonators and fans.

CKX, INC which now owns Elvis Presley's Estate, has full control including the grave of Elvis Presley and his Family members along with his home Graceland in early 2008. This has seen some impact on what Elvis Impersonators and contests have on the media and marketing industry. They began using the contest along with their Elvis brand to licensing anyone wanting to have an Elvis contest charging a fee to do so.

Other contests include Images of the King. They license their contests for $150.00 per regional site at various places such as VFW's, casinos and festivals with their finals being held in Memphis each year during Elvis Week.

Ypsilanti, MI has hosted the Michigan ElvisFest every August since 1999.

Collingwood, Ontario Canada holds an large annual Elvis festival.[17]

Also in the UK, the seaside town of Blackpool in England is home to a busy Elvis Wedding Chapel[18] based at the Queens hotel on the south promenade where couples can have their wedding vows renewed by Martin Fox.[19]

Elvis Impersonation in the Media

Literature

A number of books are available on the topic of Elvis tribute artists. One of the first books to document the phenomenon was, I Am Elvis: A Guide to Elvis Impersonators released by American Graphic Systems in 1991. More recent titles include photo essays, Living the Life by Patty Carroll and The King and I: A little Gallery of Elvis Impersonators by Kent Baker and Karen Pritkin.

Novelist William McCranor Henderson wrote about his attempts to learn the Elvis trade in, I, Elvis: Confessions of a Counterfeit King.

A more scholarly examination of Elvis impersonation is, Impersonating Elvis by Leslie Rubinowski released in 1997. On "the thriving phenomenon of Elvis impersonators", see also Gilbert B. Rodman, Elvis After Elvis: The Posthumous Career of a Living Legend (1996). In the Summer 1997 issue of The Oxford American magazine author Tom Graves wrote an acclaimed article, Natural Born Elvis, about the first Elvis impersonator, Bill Haney, the only tribute artist Elvis himself ever went to see perform. The article has been published in the anthology The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing.

There are also three "how to" guides, Be Elvis! by Rick Marino, a well-known tribute artist, released in 2000 by Sourcebooks and the more recent, The Elvis Impersonation Kit by Laura Lee, released in 2006 by Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers. Also recently[when?] released "Just Pretending" by Kurt Burrows is full of tips on how to talk, sing and dress like Elvis. It contains interviews with many famous Elvis impersonators, and also gives you five free Sunfly Karaoke backing tracks, allowing you to download your favourite Elvis tracks to perform to.

There are also several university studies, for instance, Eric Lott's critical essay, "All the King's Men: Elvis Impersonators and White Working-Class Masculinity," published in Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel, eds., Race and the Subject of Masculinities (Duke University Press, 1997). The author, professor of American Studies at the University of Virginia, has also written a long piece on Elvis impersonators and the EPIIA (Elvis Presley Impersonators International Association) to be published in his next book. For this paper, he interviewed many impersonators and draws parallels with minstrelsy. "It is indeed one place minstrelsy ends up; where 19th-century white guys imitated what they thought of as slave culture and Elvis took from R & B performers, the impersonators copy the copy, if you will—it's minstrelsy once-removed."[20] In her paper, "Women Who 'Do Elvis' ", Cornell University researcher Francesca Brittan deals with female Elvis Presley impersonators and finds them to be "campy, cheeky, and often disturbingly convincing."[21] According to Marjorie Garber's academic study, Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety (1992), Elvis impersonation is so insistently connected with femininity that it is "almost as if the word 'impersonator', in contemporary popular culture, can be modified either by 'female' or by 'Elvis.' "[22]

Films

3000 Miles to Graceland is a 2001 thriller film, starring Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courteney Cox Arquette, David Arquette, Bokeem Woodbine, Christian Slater, and Kevin Pollak. It is a story of theft and betrayal, revolving around a plot to rob the Riviera Casino during a convention of Elvis impersonators.

Bubba Ho-tep is the title of a novella by Joe R. Lansdale which originally appeared in the anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem (edited by Paul M. Sammon, Delta 1994) and was adapted as a 2002 horror-black comedy film starring Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley - who escaped the pressures of his fame long ago by impersonating an Elvis impersonator and is now a resident in a nursing home. The film version also stars Ossie Davis as Jack, a black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy. He says he was patched up after the assassination in Dallas, dyed black, and abandoned by Lyndon Johnson. The film was directed by Don Coscarelli.

Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedic movie which was directed by Andrew Bergman. Jack Singer, played by Nicolas Cage, encounters a group of "Flying Elvises" (skydiving Elvis impersonators) while trying to reunite with his fiancee.

Almost Elvis[23] is a 75 minute 2001 documentary film that follows a variety of Elvis impersonators as they prepare for a large annual contest in Memphis, Tennessee.

Elvis Extravaganza A 60 minute 2009 Elvis Impersonator documentary featuring the Worlds Finest Elvis Impersonators and their quest for the most coveted crown the Title of the " Worlds Finest Elvis Impersonator"

Television

The plot of the Father Ted episode "Competition Time" revolves around the three main characters Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire and Father Jack Hackett entering the "All Priests Stars in Their Eyes Lookalike Competition". Due to confusion about who is going as Elvis all three do it, appearing in sequence as Elvis at different stages of his career, winning the competition.

Jeff Yagher played an Elvis impersonator (as well as Elvis himself) in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Once and Future King". The man who played Elvis' boss at the Crown Electric company was Red West, a real life schoolmate and best friend of Elvis.

In the Sledge Hammer! episode "All Shook Up", Hammer (David Rasche) investigates a string of Elvis impersonator murders by becoming one and participating in a contest to nab the murderer.

In the Digimon Adventure anime, one of the main villains, Etemon has the character of an Elvis Impersonator.

In an episode of How I Met Your Mother Marshall and Lily are serenaded by a Korean Elvis.

Plays

One of the most popular modern plays dealing with Elvis impersonation is Lee Hall's Cooking with Elvis (1999). The comedy centers on the family life of Dad, an Elvis impersonator who was paralyzed in a car crash and is forced to spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair. Climaxes of the play are surreal fantasy scenes in which Dad's hallucinatory Elvis dreams are bursting into popular Presley songs as a reminiscence of his one-time persona of Elvis impersonator.

Influences in Academia

In paleontology, researchers D. H. Erwin and M. L. Droser in a 1993 paper derived from the Elvis impersonators the term Elvis taxon (plural Elvis taxa), which denotes a taxon that has been misidentified as having re-emerged in the fossil record after a period of presumed extinction, but is not actually a descendant of the original taxon, instead having developed a similar morphology through convergent evolution.

  • The Elvis Extravaganza Show band is considered worldwide as the top Elvis Tribute band. They perform over 1500 songs and have toured with every major musician that Elvis Presley used in his bands over his entire career.
  • Elvii is a registered trade name that belongs to the Elvis Extravaganza Fan Club. It is not a plural for the form Elvi in Elvis impersonators (this, however, is not grammatically correct, as the name "Elvis" derives from Old English. Even if it somehow were a third-declension Latin noun, the plural form would be Elvēs). This term was popularized by a Saturday Night Live sketch where Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi respectively impersonated the younger and older versions of Elvis.
  • In Memphis, Tennessee, the term Elvira (plural, Elviras) has been used to refer to female Elvis impersonators.
  • The Led Zeppelin tribute band Dread Zeppelin has an Elvis impersonator named Tortelvis as their lead vocalist.
  • There is a lot of speculation as to how many Elvis impersonators are out there, with experts reckoning that the number of Elvis Presley impersonators has reached an all-time record high.
  • On the show Full House episode "Mad Money", Jesse (John Stamos) moonlights as an Elvis impersonator.
  • 'Elvis impersonator' still remains the most popular phrase used when speaking of an person who acts as another.
  • Billionaire Robert Sillerman, owner of the TV show American Idol, bought an 85% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005. Among other things, this gives him control of Elvis Presley's name and likeness in the US, this however does not include Britain (where the Elvis image is in the public domain), Europe and most other countries in the world.[24]
  • Three Elvis impersonators make a cameo appearance in the Babylon 5 episode "Epiphanies" [2], indicating that the Elvis-impersonating tradition is still alive and well in the 23rd century.
  • The UK radio presenter Steve Wright includes a comedy feature on his show entitled "Ask Elvis". An Elvis impersonator (Mitch Benn) provides answers to listeners' questions — particularly those of a scientific or technical nature.[25]
  • Elvis impersonator won the summer 2007 reality show The Next Best Thing on ABC. A second impersonator finished in the top five.
  • In an episode of Jackass, Phil Margera dons an Elvis costume.
  • In an episode of Married... With Children, the character Peggy Bundy claims to have seen Elvis at a mall, prompting a large number of Elvis Impersonators to come to her home so she can share her "experience."
  • In an episode of the American sitcom The Golden Girls, the characters of Blanche and Rose are considering hiring an Elvis impersonator for their "Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love Fan Club," yet Rose mixes up the Elvis list with the guest list for the wedding of the character of Sophia. As a result, Sophia's wedding reception is filled with Elvis impersonators instead of members of her own family, and Rose exclaims, "Either I got the Elvis list mixed with the guest list for the wedding or everyone in Sophia's family appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show!"
  • In the WWF (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment), a character named The Honky Tonk Man had the gimmick of an Elvis impersonator.
  • A case of conjoined icons occurs on the Star Trek fan series, "Star Trek Phase II", where the executive producer is professional Elvis impersonator James Cawley. As Captain Kirk, Cawley still retains his "Elvis" look, but does not impersonate either Elvis or William Shatner.
  • In Jack Womack's Dryco quartet, Elvissey (1993) depicts a future world wracked by climate change, where Elvis Presley has become the central messianic figure in an alternative religion, and where Elvis impersonation has become a sacred rite of spiritual possession. Therefore, the central protagonists are tasked with retrieving an alternate history Elvis, who turns out to suffer from psychosis, has murdered his mother Gladys Presley and who is also a Valentinean gnostic, who reacts adversely to his perceived messiah role.
  • The very first match by TNA Wrestling featured a team called The Flying Elvis Impersonators. On later shows, their name was shortened to The Flying Elvises,
  • Elvis impersonator John R. Lang is known for his appearances at Buffalo Bills games, where he uses his guitar as a billboard. The "Bills Elvis" has been featured prominently in NFL Films productions.
  • In the Dystopian video game Fallout: New Vegas, a town called Freeside is ruled by a gang known as the Kings, which consist of Elvis Impersonators that reside in an Elvis Impersonation School. Their leader, known as The King, states that they assume Elvis was some kind of God since so many people wanted to be like him before the bombs fell.

Quotes

  • "The phenomenon of 'Elvis impersonators,' which began long before the singer's death, is one of the most startling effects of the Elvis cult." (Marjorie Garber)[26]
  • "Impersonating Elvis may seem a tad bizarre, but it is a human rationale that deserves articulation." (Eric Lott)[27]
  • "No phenomenon makes the performative character of Elvis clearer than the impersonators. These people are not known for their musical abilities. The culture's interest in them is not in how they sing or play an instrument, but in their bringing to life the character Elvis Presley first performed." (David Shumway)[28]
  • "There are now at least 25,000 Elvis' around the world, compared to only 170 in 1977 when Elvis died. At this rate of growth, experts predict that by 2019 Elvis impersonators will make up a third of the world population. This is incorrect being the fan base of Elvis Presley has diminished drastically since his death. "[29]
  • "Elvis impersonators and fans create an ever-evolving Elvis folklore and collectively sustain a deep distrust for those mass-media versions of Elvis from which his estate and their official licensees continue to profit." (Rosemary J. Coombe)[30]
  • "If life was fair, Elvis would still be alive and all the impersonators dead"--Johnny Carson

See also

References

  1. ^ "LadyLuck Music Tribute Artist Radio Station". LadyLuck Music. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  2. ^ "Elvii.com Radio Station". Kitty Coyne. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  3. ^ Eric Lott, "All the King's Men: Elvis Impersonators and White Working-Class Masculinity." In Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel, eds., Race and the Subject of Masculinities (Duke University Press, 1997), p.198.
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ Waking Andy Kaufman, The Village Voice
  6. ^ Steven Connor, The Cambridge Companion to Postmodernism (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p.108.
  7. ^ Weekly World News, July 11, 2005
  8. ^ "The Pedant's Return: Why the Things You Think Are Wrong Are Right" By Andrea Barham
  9. ^ Eric Lott, p.194.
  10. ^ Kristine L. Blair and Libby Allison, Cultural Attractions/Cultural Distractions: Critical Literacy in Contemporary Contexts (2000), p.88.
  11. ^ Eric Lott, "All the King's Men: Elvis Impersonators and White Working-Class Masculinity," in Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel, eds., Race and the Subject of Masculinities (Duke University Press, 1997), p.202.
  12. ^ See Lois Tyson, Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide (1999), p.332.
  13. ^ See Gael Sweeney, "The King of White Trash Culture: Elvis Presley and the Aesthetics of Excess." In Annalee Newitz and Matt Wray, eds., White Trash: Race and Class in America (1996), p.262.
  14. ^ Sweeney, "The King of White Trash Culture," p.262.
  15. ^ George Plasketes, Images of Elvis Presley in American Culture, 1977-1997: The Mystery Terrain (1997), p.3.
  16. ^ For more details, see David S. Wall, "Policing Elvis: Legal Action and the Shaping of Post-Mortem Celebrity Culture as Contested Space."
  17. ^ "Collingwood Elvis Festival". Collingwood Chamber of Commerce. 2004. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
  18. ^ "Elvis Weddings". Elvis Weddings. 2003. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
  19. ^ "Elvis Impersonator". Martin Fox. 2003. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
  20. ^ Gadfly Online: David McNair and Jayson Whitehead, "Love and Theft."
  21. ^ Francesca Brittan, "Women Who 'Do Elvis': Authenticity, Masculinity and Masquerade", published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2. (August 2006), p.167-190.
  22. ^ Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety (1992), p.372. See also Matt Hills, Fan Cultures (2002), p.164.
  23. ^ "Almost Elvis". John Paget (PAGET FILMS). Retrieved 2008-10-02.
  24. ^ "Robert Sillerman comments about likeness rights". NME. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
  25. ^ "Steve Wright — Ask Elvis". BBC. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-02-20. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
  26. ^ Marjorie B. Garber, Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety (1997), p.369.
  27. ^ Eric Lott, "All the King's Men: Elvis Impersonators and White Working-Class Masculinity," p.194.
  28. ^ David Shumway, "Performance". In Bruce Horner and Thomas Swiss, eds., Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture (1999), p.197.
  29. ^ "The Naked Scientists". Archived from the original on 2002-11-02. Retrieved 2009-06-15. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2007-10-09 suggested (help)
  30. ^ Rosemary J. Coombe, The Cultural Life of Intellectual Properties: Authorship, Appropiation, and the Law (Duke University Press, 1998), p.99.
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