In about a year's time, Elvis went from being very poor and living with his family in government housing in Memphis to all of a sudden being the biggest star in the world. Once fame hit, there was a lot of temptation and also a lot of stress.
I had heard some Elvis songs on the radio. During Christmastime, they'd play 'Blue Christmas,' and I knew I liked his songs, but I didn't know who it was singing them. I just knew I liked them... I started reading, watching, and just picking up everything I could about him.
It was such a pivotal time in Elvis' life; he was just a poor boy from Tupelo, Miss. That's all he really was. He had the same feelings as everybody.
It doesn't get much better than playing Elvis during the early days of his career.
My favorite Elvis era has always been his early Sun Records stuff. It was raw, just Elvis singing what he felt. It had all the influences of black blues that came out of Memphis and these gospel quartets that he loved. You can really hear that in his music from Sun.
This was a time when racism was still very rampant, but the music that came out of Sun Studio was absolutely color blind. It was all about feeling. It was music that anybody could understand, and that made a step towards bettering the world for everyone.
I was about 7 and my family was eating at a restaurant when we saw my first Elvis impersonator by total accident.
There was such a realness about Elvis. He never really changed from that humble boy from Tupelo, Mississippi. He became this huge star, but he always remained that Southern boy.
I'd sit on the coffee table and lip sync to 'Blue Christmas,' 'I Can't Help Falling in Love,' 'Love Me Tender,' 'Don't Be Cruel' - some of the big hits like that.
You got to realize there will be huge Elvis fans out there who'll be really critical, and I'm sure I'm my worst critic, but to get to do my own interpretation of Elvis and do it on a platform like this is really cool.
