Elvis tribute acts carry on the musical legacy of 'The King'

Aug. 20—Jamie Harris of Monongahela already had a hobby to occupy his spare time — he was a competitive powerlifter. But when he tore his pectoral muscle off the bone in 2000, he had to reevaluate things.

"I was a jail guard at the Shuman Detention Center at the time," said Harris. "I was 29 years old and my powerlifting career was basically over, and at the center I was on light duty in the evenings during my recovery."

One evening at work, Harris brought his box set of Elvis Presley recordings along to help pass the time, and started reminiscing as he listened.

"My parents were always big Elvis fans, and so was I," he said. "Somewhere during that six-month period of desk duty, I just kind of came up with the idea of doing Elvis performances."

Harris started with performances at local VFWs and Moose clubs, and at private events like birthday parties.

"It took me about a decade to reach things at more of a national level," he said. "But you refine things, you look better, you sound better, you have an agent that gets you bigger work."

Harris is 53 and has been performing his "Shadows of the King" show for more than two decades, including a brief stint touring with The King's real-life backup singers for a run of dates.

"I took my powerlifting ethic and turned that toward the Elvis performances," he said. "And I still exercise and lift four days a week, because performing as Elvis is physical."

Harris is one of a number of Elvis tribute acts who continue to breathe life into Presley's back catalog of hits and covers. There's not a lot of hard statistical information about just how many Elvis acts are working worldwide. It's likely to be at least 895, because that's how many came together to set the current Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Elvis impersonators in 2014 in North Carolina.

Tribute acts such as Harris bring a wave of nostalgia to older fans while introducing younger ones to the sound of one of the first international rock stars.

"I never get sick of it," Harris said.

Don Obusek, 65, of Kennedy Township knows the feeling. He's been performing as Elvis since 1995.

"Initially, I entered a singing contest and won, and I sang all Elvis songs," said Obusek, whose "Magic of Elvis" shows focus primarily on Presley's 1970s performances.

"Recently it's kind of evolved to be more of a tribute to the way Elvis would perhaps be now," he said. "You want to try and connect and pass that magic on to fans."

At a recent performance, Obusek saw that connection, and magic, in action.

"There was a grandfather who passed by with his two little grandkids, probably 4 or 5 years old," he said. "They stopped right in their tracks, and the grandfather didn't even notice at first. One of them was imitating me. That's part of why we call it 'The Magic of Elvis' — after 40 years, people still do it."

Dan Ranalli, 52, of Robinson was 10 when he started doing an Elvis impression, and, according to his mother, his fandom began long before that.

"She'd play Elvis to calm me down when I was still inside her belly," Ranalli said with a laugh. "So I guess I've been an Elvis fan even before birth."

Ranalli's stint as an Elvis tribute act happened by sheer accident, when he and some friends went out to a crowded bar where it happened to be karaoke night.

"I despise karaoke," Ranalli said. "We hear a guy go up and do an Elvis song, and I mean it was just terrible. And all my friends are telling me to go up and do one."

Later that evening, Ranalli heard his name called by the karaoke host.

"Turns out, my friends signed me up for it," he said. "I sang 'Can't Help Falling in Love,' and it was dead silent the whole time. Afterward, people were coming up and asking where I performed and did I have CDs, all this stuff."

One of Ranalli's friends, who had some experience in marketing, recognized an opportunity. Ranalli started out performing around the Philadelphia area, and after about a year was performing as The King in Las Vegas.

"When I was younger, I did a 'Stages of the King' show where we'd do 1950s Elvis, take a break, then I'd come out in an Army uniform, take a break, and we'd go through the black-leather-jacket Elvis, the jumpsuit early 1970s and late 1970s Elvis, the whole thing," Ranalli said. "As I got older, I focused more on the jumpsuit era."

All three said performing as The King isn't exactly a walk in the park, if you're serious about it.

"You know the old saying, 'Practice, practice, practice,' " Obusek said. "It's a lot of aerobics, if you're really trying to do the best tribute possible. When we were doing multiple shows a week, I was in the best shape of my life."

"You have the jumpsuit on, plus the wig that traps all the heat, plus the stage lights," Ranalli said. "Moving around like he did, it's some wear and tear on you."

For Harris, the tribute shows give him a chance to continue at least part of his old fitness regimen.

"I work out with weights and cardio four days a week," he said. "I do vocal practice while I'm riding a recumbent bike. On my non-lifting days, I'll do tae bo. I can still do the basic powerlifting stuff, just on a lighter level."

When he was getting started, Harris shied away from telling his weightlifting friends about his Elvis impersonating.

"I figured they'd think I was crazy," he said. "But my buddy at Shuman had a grandmother who loved Elvis, and he gave me some money to perform at her birthday party."

At that point, Harris had, in his words, "a boom box, a little karaoke system and a crappy jumpsuit."

"I was sitting upstairs at her house getting dressed, and I had a moment of, 'What am I doing?' " he said. "But I performed three songs, and the grandmother was just crying, she was so happy. There was a guy there from the Squirrel Hill VFW, and he asked me to come there and perform."

Things progressed steadily from there.

"Better shows, better hair, better jumpsuits, better money," Harris said. "When you put all that stuff together, it comes really close to the real thing. And that's not by luck, it's practice."

Ranalli said that even after a decade after retiring from regular performances, he can still recall the feeling he'd get from a crowd.

"The reactions are the best," he said. "People will tell you all these stories about how he changed their lives. It's wonderful to hear someone say, 'You really made me feel good tonight.' What mattered to me is I was helping these people relive a moment and forget about everyday life. You have to be the best possible Elvis you possibly can, if you want to succeed in this business."

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .