The story so far..
As with other tribute acts, I first started singing when the Karaoke craze hit the UK in the late 80’s early 90’s. The first song I chose to sing was ‘blue suede shoes’. I remember standing there, as still as a statue and rigid with nerves.. when the room burst into cheers. Never one to miss an opportunity, I thought ‘I’m onto something here…’. I tried standing still the next week too whilst singing something else, and when that didn’t work, I thought ‘ hmmm, must have been the Elvis song…wonder what would happen if I move about like Elvis used to whilst I’m singing?’. Fast forward 17 years…I haven’t stopped since!
A lifelong rock n’ roll fan, particularly the Sun records artists, I have spent the last ten years paying tribute to the rock n roll greats with one of Wales’s top duos, Whole Lotta Shakin’. One of the highlights of the act is the medley of Elvis songs I perform towards the end of the first half of the show. An observer once commented ‘the entire show is energetic, but for some reason he seems to come alive even more when he’s singing Elvis songs’.
At one of our charity performances in April 2007, I paid tribute to Elvis Presley in a one hour special for the very first time. The show was attended by Steve Maitland-Thomas, then-manager of the world-known Porthcawl Elvis Festival. Steve suggested that I consider entering the festival’s Best Welsh Elvis Tribute competition in June of that year. Following in the footsteps of the fantastic previous winners, Dave Smith and Marc George, I became the third holder of the title. Part of winning the title was to attempt a world record for the most Elvis tribute performances in one day in August 2007. The day included performances live on GMTV, Talk Sport, HTV, and the BBC's One Show. It was a wonderful day and I got to meet Andrea Mclean (I'm a fan! ahem!). Sadly, I never got a copy of the photo from the guy from Paddy Power! Click here for the news coverage of the day!
My act is a tribute to the world’s best entertainer. If I can impart even some of the pleasure Elvis’s singing has given me then I will consider this tribute act a success’
