dennis wise elvis impersonator

Bags were removed from under OConnells eyes, and wrinkles from his cheeks. O'Day made sure there was fanfare around itWise recalls exiting the plastic surgeon's clinic in a wheelchair to find "100 people from the press all over the world taking pictures. O'Day's first foray into the world of tribute acts came in 1977, when he met Dennis Wise, who sounded close enough to Elvis that O'Day convinced him to go under the knife and have his nose, cheeks, and lips made to look more like the King's. With his sandy-brown hair, six-foot-plus height, and strong voice, ODay had the goods: He had talent, and he could play almost any instrument there was, Effie recalls. "That was a very strange day," Wise says. It is a story of theft and betrayal, revolving around a plot to rob the Riviera Casino during a convention of Elvis impersonators in Las Vegas. Sight unseen, always. And just like ODay, each was hungry for recognition and success, a very different type of American dream. 19 verified bookings. 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. Marcia is a schoolteacher, teaching the history of music. Finding the right plastic surgeon to tweak Wises lips and cheeks and straighten his nose was tougher. "It's almost like you're on autopilot," Garon said, of drifting into the Presley persona. He says he and the band werent paid in full for their work. The three songs he sang were, "If I Can Dream", "Kentucky Rain" and "Polk Salad Annie". He had previously wanted to manage a Barbra Streisand impersonator but soon realized the audience wouldnt buy his first choice: At five feet two and 160 pounds, she didnt conjure Streisand physically. some memories. He recalls seeing cocaine backstage, and during a Tahoe drive, Gamble stocked his black Lincoln with a cooler of beer and some Jack Daniels and was, of course, pulled over by cops for some infraction. I thought I was headed back to Hawaii, but the guy said Ill take him. Eddie is still performing mostly in bars or 6-star hotels, especially with Elvis impersonators. American Sound Studio was gaining a reputation in the industry as the Box Tops had just recorded \"The Letter\" there so James relocated to Memphis. [21], Blackpool in the UK, features a busy Elvis wedding chapel[22] based at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, Queens promenade, where couples can have their wedding vows renewed by Martin Fox. "That was a very strange day," Wise says. Thomas into a local club, took the money, and then disappeared; it turned out he didnt actually rep Thomas at all. Described as the original and best-known Elvis Presley tribute artist, Dennis Wise has performed more than 10,000 shows in all 50 states and in other countries including Peru, England and Japan. The gimmick baffled some who had known ODay. When I take these people in, they already have a basic resemblance to the person I want them to look like, he said. The requisite jumpsuits and jewelry are there too. That was the start of a career that has lasted more than 30 years. Dad hated Elvis. [33] A humorous example of mathematical extrapolation posits that if the growth of Elvis impersonators continued at the rate it did since 1977, by 2043, all humans on earth would be Elvis impersonators. His Bizarre 1970s Plan Involved Elvis, Plastic Surgery Despite the media splash and countless articles that accompanied it, Rock and Roll Heaven didnt exactly rock the house when it launched. It was his seventeenth and last number-one single in the United States. The Martin twins dressed-up as twin-Elvises in an episode of The Suite Life where they were appearing on a gameshow called "Risk It All! Thats up from $49 million in 2007. The shows are on the weekends before or after the dates so fans can sleep in. He needed those people if we were going to play in Las Vegas, says Caywood. Elvis Presley performs in Providence, R.I., on May 23, 1977. . Professional Elvis impersonators, commonly known as Elvis tribute artists (ETAs), work all over the world as entertainers, and such tribute acts remain in great demand due to the unique iconic status of Elvis. We were offered a job to go to Hawaii, Wise says. He would be in the traditional Elvis dress from the waist up, but from below the waist was in Bermuda shorts and bare feet. Dennis Wise Tickets, 2022-2023 Concert Tour Dates | Ticketmaster Other Samoan Elvis's include Elvis of Samoa,[64] and Nifae Fepuleai. It took a long time to get over that.. Wise will perform his annual Elvis birthday concert Saturday at the Chrome Lounge at Santa Fe Station. Wise says he never saw a dime, nor ever saw ODay again. For this paper, he interviewed many impersonators and draws parallels with minstrelsy. >Las Vegas Leisure Guide. [55] During the 1960s, he played drums with Sonny Day and The Sundowners. ensemble. Meet the World's Greatest Elvis Impersonator | Mental Floss Smith was featured several times on Pringle's regular TV show, though Smith only pretended to sing and play along with the music since he actually could neither sing nor play the guitar at that time.[7]. He said this guy is putting together a show and they need a Janis Joplin, Caywood recalls. A major post-mortem event in Elvis history occurred in Orlando on Jan. 31, 1978, when Dennis Wise underwent six hours of plastic surgery to look more like The King of rock 'n' roll. Events tend to attract large numbers of amateur Elvis impersonators and Elvis fans. Its no longer a wrap: the Rock and Roll Heaven band after the bandages came off. He has continuously performed his Elvis tribute act for almost 50 years, including performances in Las Vegas and headlining an Elvis tribute show in Branson, MO for almost 20 years beginning in 1993. As it turned out, Duke OConnell, the drummer in an ODay-managed cover band called the Copycats, had been singing Doors songs in that group. DENNIS WISE FANTASIES LP (ELVIS IMPERSONATOR) AUTOGRAPHED SLEEVE - eBay But dad drove a truck and was gone all the time and so Mom always listened to Elvis records. Honeymoon in Vegas is a 1992 comedic movie which was directed by Andrew Bergman. It was such an odd thing. Dennis's Rock and Roll Heaven, the touring extravaganza he conceived and promoted, didnt just pay homage to one deceased icon, but four of them: Elvis, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jim Croce. At Gambles suggestion, his girlfriend, a North Carolina native named Deborah (or Erin) Rhyne, had her nose straightened and hair dyed black to resemble a female Elvis. (Im going to be Elvis in the early 1950s, when he was feminine-looking, she said.). A season one episode of Full House had the character Uncle Jesse (John Stamos) play Elvis in a concert. Elvis has spanned over forty years. It's only fitting that he would released "Just Pretending" by Kurt Burrows is full of tips on how to talk, sing and dress like Elvis. Dennis Wise has been paying tribute to Elvis for more than 30years. 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Since Joplin imitators were rare back then, Caywood adds, I was the only person who could do that at the time., Caywood, a native Californian who sang in a sassy rasp reminiscent of Joplins, didnt know the full story. Danny was flabbergasted I said that, says Wise. (Actually, they didnt go on the road so fast: The first gig, at a club in St. Petersburg, Florida, perhaps aptly named J.P. Bottoms Lounge, never happened. And with that, another lightbulb flicked on. He knew the time was coming when the bond between rock icons and fans would grow so intense that an industry could rise to exploit that union. The mementos may be gone. James's wife has suspicions of his feelings. The Disney Channel sitcoms Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody both featured main characters dressing up and acting like Elvis. With more than 600 Presley tunes in his The Joplin, Mo., native had been an Elvis fan since age 5, when his mother would put on stacks of records and play them all day long. [37] In February 2013, he was set to appear at the annual fourth tribute to Elvis Presley event, held at the Auckland Botanic Gardens in Manurewa, Auckland. repertoire, Dennis can answer most any request. Hes Elvis. Airlines have offered discount fares for look-alikes on Elvis holidays His omnipresence hauntingly hovers"[19], In August 1996, Elvis Herselvis, a female Elvis impersonator and drag king, 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.[20]. Update information for Dennis Wise More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro Known For The Alaska Experiment Self 2008 The Mike Douglas Show Self - Elvis Presley Impersonator 1978 Hide all | | Edit Filmography Hide Self (3 credits) 2008 The Alaska Experiment (TV Series) Self - Take the Long Way Home (2008) . But the fans gave their tender love to Shawn Klush of Pittston, PA, crowning him King in the finale. Besides performing throughout New Zealand, he has performed in Australia, Hawaii, Fiji and the United States.[42]. Condition: Pre-owned Pre-owned He did say, Well, what can we do? Talent shows focused on imitating already famous singers will often have Elvis impersonators. According to a popular myth, Presley himself entered an Elvis lookalike contest at a local restaurant shortly before his death, and came in third place. [9] In his act, Kaufman would precede with several failed impersonations before unexpectedly launching into a skilled impersonation of Elvis Presley. When he woke up, his swollen face wrapped in bandages, Wise had implants in his cheeks and a curled-up lip, and he was on his way to resembling the King more than his 23-year-old self. The King Is Dead, But Wise Works to Keep Spirit Alive Halfway through the It was a Method-acting thing, says Caywood. [11][bettersourceneeded] This joke may have its origins in Charlie Chaplin, who once did enter a lookalike contest and is often reported to have also placed third, although Chaplin's actual ranking in the contest is not known.[12]. Boards are the best place to save images and video clips. He once sang some songs on Karaoke at a 30th birthday party which his mother in law loved. [46] Among the LP albums he recorded were his 1976 album, Mr. Fatu Sings Elvis, which was recorded live at The Hawaiian Inn,[47] and Manatua Mai A'u (Remember Me), released on the Tam-Bay label. I dont see a morbid aspect, he said. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Last year, he earned $54 million, topping the list of dead performers who are still making money. They mainly fall under three main levels of impersonation, which are: Enacting a typical 70s Elvis concert is a preferred choice of most ETAs; however, some ETAs may portray various phases of Presley's career in a single show. A few years later, Caywood and her then-husband, who was in the band, returned to the site, and there the pile remained, in all its mangled glory. Danny as Kenny Rogers? Wise says. Almost Elvis[29] is a 75-minute 2001 documentary film that follows a variety of professional Elvis impersonators such as they prepare for a large annual contest in Memphis, Tennessee. Keeping his spirit alive are tens of thousands of professional Elvis impersonators around the world, and millions more who do it for kicks. Episode 26 - My Dad is an Elvis Impersonator - Feat. Marcia and Dennis Wise He envisioned a world in which celebrity worship would rule, everyday people could be elevated to stardom, and there would be no shame in any of it. The music will be all Elvis, from the Vegas years. The Getty Images design is a trademark of Getty Images. Wow your guests with a visit from the King of Rock and Roll! What ODay himself dubbed his clone army only wound up fighting a few minor skirmishes: a handful of TV appearances, and gigs at clubs, state fairs, and casinos, earning enough notoriety to have possibly inspired not one but two Saturday Night Live parodies. It's almost like being in your zen, your spot.". As far back as the Seventies, touring and club acts meticulously did their best to look and sound like the Doors or the very much alive Bruce Springsteen, and tourists in Manhattan flocked to Beatlemania, a Fab Four tribute that ran on Broadway for two years. He says he was patched up after the assassination in Dallas, dyed black, and abandoned by Lyndon B. Johnson. international record is an honor shared only by Las Vegas entertainers The films also featured many real Elvis Tribute Artists from Las Vegas as background players, dancers and extras. But none of it gave ODay even the slightest pause; by now, he was in full Barnum mode. Longtime Elvis impersonator to go beyond the standards To make himself feel better about the idea, ODay ran it by his mother: What if his younger brother, whod passed away at 21, had been an entertainer and died and had been resurrected by way of plastic surgery? To become the Gambler balladeer, ODay had a hair transplant, dyed his hair gray, and had his jowls tightened. As she later told the Orlando Sentinel, the whole show gave her the creeps due to real weird girls who started hanging out during my shows, biker types. She complained to ODay about her female-Elvis role, but he wasnt listening: Nothing I said seemed to sink in, Rhyne said. David stayed with Elvis at Graceland for 17 years, and traveled with him until the end, August 16,1977. A lot of us in the entertainment business dont get a chance to do some of the normal things. But several weeks later, he made his post-surgery television debut on Good Morning America, and at press conferences began imitating Presleys Southern drawl and polite use of maam and sir. His brother Jim watched one of his TV appearances in a bar. Despite matching his attire, hairstyle and voice, the Kings are unaware of Elvis as a historical musician, not even knowing what his name was - only that he must have been worshiped for there to be a building dedicated to teaching people to imitate him. He saw his idol in concert four times, the last in Kansas City, Mo., in 1974. I feel weird saying this, but basically I was the hit of the show, says Caywood. As incredible as it may sound, Elvis Presley would have celebrated his 74th birthday today probably quietly at Graceland lest he throw out a hip. Newsroom | Elvis is in the building - Northwest CTA, that is He was the whole package of music.. I was there in 1977 when Elvis died.. On the 15th of May, 2011, he entered the Elvis Down Under competition in Upper Hutt. 29 cents Cost of the Elvis stamp issued in 1993. Dennis Wise, 54, has been an Elvis impersonator for more than 30 years, beginning with a garage band he started with his brother. 2023 Getty Images. include being named by Dick Clark as one of the three best Elvis So O'Day moved on: to "Rock and Roll Heaven," a tour he dreamed up that would feature not just an Elvis, but Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jim Croce, too. to earth and that separates a lot of entertainers", states Dennis. his performance, Wise imparts trivia about Elvis's music, as well as Tap into Getty Images' global scale, data-driven insights, and network of more than 340,000 creators to create content exclusively for your brand. Elvis birthday events So, this morning I was invited by the crew at KTNV Channel 13 to talk about Presley, and who do. I got more publicity over that than John Travolta did in 1978. Travolta was popular at the time because of Saturday Night Fever and Grease.. When ODay proposed the idea of surgical transformation to them, the newly hired hands were either eager or puzzled, depending on the singer. At the tours debut, at the Southeastern Music Fair in Atlanta in September 1978, fewer than 50 people showed up. Wise says that, inspired by Dark Passage, the 1947 film in which Humphrey Bogarts escaped-con character undergoes plastic surgery to avoid recapture, he suggested altering his face to look more like the King. I bless you, Daniel ODay, she says, for opening up such a large part of my life that came out of that.. Some ETAs perform with a live band in the style of the TCB Band, complete with a brass ensemble and background singers to add to the originality; while others rely solely on karaoke for their performances. To hear his family tell it, Danny Dixon ODay could have been a star. "[25] In her paper, "Women Who 'Do Elvis'", Case Western Reserve University researcher Francesca Brittan deals with female Elvis Presley impersonators and finds them to be "campy, cheeky, and often disturbingly convincing. Gradually Elvis became a bigger part of the act. The two wound up singing covers in another band, poetically named Xerox, and before long, they became romantically involved. Eventually, ODay was able to smuggle Wise into that clinic on that day in January 1978. Another Filipino Elvis impersonator is singer businessman Chito Bertol who also impersonates Elvis Presley mostly at Bistro RJ Bar in Makati City, and sometimes occasionally performs every year with Filipino singer businessman Ramon Jacinto who was the founder of Bistro RJ and his radio station DZRJ 100.3 FM & his TV station DZRJ TV 29 in the Philippines. He appeared in episode 3 of the BBC Two Wales documentary, Cardigan Bay Coastal Lives. His admiration for Elvis has spanned over forty years. A few months after Elvis died Wise traveled to Little Rock, Ark., to audition as an Elvis tribute artist. 2.9K views, 40 likes, 10 loves, 16 comments, 11 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from WiseDrums: So twice a year I play drums for my father Dennis Wise who's been an Elvis Presley tribute artist since. There are disputes about what happened next. Theyre yelling at me, How do you feel? What are you thinking?, Wise says he didnt tell anyone in his family, including his parents or brother, since he feared they would think he was nuts. He would say, We ought to do this! and I would be, Oh, my gosh!. 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. The King is as popular today as he was when he died suddenly at the age of 42 in the Memphis mansion on Aug. 16, 1977. His mother introduced Joplin, Missouri native Dennis Wise to the music And you have the fans who want to see that artist continue., ODay would never be on the level of Colonel Tom Parker, but he was something else entirely rocks own P.T. 1970's Dennis Wise Enterprize ELVIS Impersonator jacket Men's Large satin look . A husband hired them to perform at his wifes 40th birthday party, since she was a Rogers fan. Their fellow townspeople understand this sentiment, but in the final scene they are shown burning those selfsame photographs, which display both Oscar and Emma dressed as Elvis. The two married in 1974, and ODay eventually adopted her two children from a previous marriage. The Philippines has its own Elvis Presley impersonator, Filipino singer, and actor Eddie Mesa, dubbed as the Elvis Presley of The Philippines. Jim wasnt sure what to make of it, but he did see one upside. Watching from afar as he attempted to revive his deflated career as a new Elvis, Dennis Wise had his worries. Danny pulls in with a brand-new Burt Reynolds Trans Am, he says. Siegfried & Roy, and Wayne Newton. Once the artists are gone, theyre gone, says Pezzuti. Jeff Yagher played an Elvis impersonator (as well as Elvis himself) in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Once and Future King". That landed him appearances on Good Morning America and The Mike Douglas Show., Cosmetic plastic surgery was just a novelty back then. "We're not here to try to take his place. Different Elvis artists have been in the main role with very detailed outfits, wigs and props. Dennis SINGER TOOK THE KING AT FACE VALUE - Orlando Sentinel Dennis can recreate the songs, moves and looks from all Era's of Elvis' career, 50's, 60's, and 70's. His heavy show schedule of an average of 200 shows a year with tours in Colorado, California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa in the past year alone proves that Dennis is the most sought . Read more in our, Elvis Presley performs in Providence, R.I., on May 23, 1977. ., Silhouettes by Paul Guzzo, Record Details, Catalogue: 3829/M15-3829, Elvis Lives! Las Vegas Sun, 2023, All Rights Reserved, Less Elvis in Vegas doesnt mean no Elvis in Vegas, Elvis has yet to leave the building (5-15-2008), Bartender mixes Elvis moves with Santa Fe drinks (4-13-2001), Vegas Vipers Home Opener Against DCDefenders, Durango Beats Liberty, 57-47, in Boys 5A BasketballChampionship. (Rhyne, by then remarried and known as Deborah Erin Bertalan, died of complications from a brain tumor in 2011. He would just come out with that stuff, you know?, Newspaper headline writers reveled in the weirdness of Rock and Roll Heaven, dubbing it the cloneheads and referring to ODay as the clone ranger. ODay brushed off any and all skepticism. lvis Presley had been dead for six months when the plastic-surgeons knife plunged into Dennis Wise. The first known Elvis impersonator was a young man named Carl 'Cheesie' Nelson from Texarkana, Arkansas, who in 1954 built up a local following on WLAC radio with his renditions of "That's All Right, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky." It was in his blood, and I want to think it was the drinking that prohibited him from doing more with his life. For reasons that remain mysterious, ODay completely turned his back on show business and began working in sales for car dealerships in the greater Baltimore and Washington, D.C., area.