Museum calls for world's best Elvises
A Las Vegas museum dedicated to the memory and myth of Elvis Presley has launched a worldwide casting call for impersonators of the “King of Rock”, organisers said on Monday.
Elvis-a-Rama, a sprawling museum that is home to a collection of more than $6-million-worth of Presley memorabilia, is casting a global net to anyone who can pay the King the highest compliment: imitation.
The museum will hold a casting call in the desert gambling town of Las Vegas on August 8 and 9, and will then hold a series of elimination-round events on four continents in a bid to find the ultimate Elvis tribute artist.
The results will be captured for a reality television shown that will crown the top impersonator, who will be rewarded with a lucrative recording contract and a chance to record a song penned by the late superstar.
“We know there is a lot of young talent out there, and we would like to give them the opportunity to shine, like Elvis did,” said Elvis-a-Rama founder Chris Davidson, the world’s most prolific collector of Elvis-owned memorabilia.
The winner selected by judges will record a song co-written by Presley and Paul Terry King, If I’d Only Bought Her Roses, which was never made into a disc.
The Elvis impersonator will also receive a $3 000 scholarship after being picked at elimination events to be held in Memphis, New York, London, Madrid, Munich, Moscow, Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Honolulu and Mexico City.
Presley, who became a fixture as a Las Vegas show staple in the 1960s and 1970s, died at the age of 42 in 1977.—AFP
