Elvis singer feels Memphis heat

By Darryl Chamberlain
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

British singer Paul Larcombe was one of 10 contestants who battled it out in Memphis to be crowned the ultimate Elvis tribute artist.

Paul Larcombe is one of just two non-US acts in the contest

Friday's contest had the official seal of approval from Graceland, as thousands of Elvis fans marked 30 years since the King's death.

In the end it was won by Shawn Klush from Pittston, Pennsylvannia. But Mr Larcombe was far from bitter.

"I feel great - the right man won," he said. "He was so good and if he hadn't have won there would have been something wrong. I am just so pleased to have been part of it."

Mr Larcombe won his chance to perform in Memphis after coming top of 64 impersonators from around the world in a heat in Blackpool.

Entertaining is in his blood, but he only chose to concentrate on Elvis when he entered the Blackpool competition.

"My father used to play the ukulele as George Formby and I'd grown up with that. I've always played the banjo as a little kid and I loved Elvis - he's always been an idol of mine," he recalls.

"When I joined the navy at 16 I used to entertain the troops, and when I left in 1995 I put a little cabaret show together."

Replica jewellery

Two years ago, he abandoned his work in the building trade to become a full-time entertainer. But becoming Elvis meant taking on big commitments.

"I decided I wasn't going to go into it with the suit and wig that I had at the time, so I spent £1,300 on two wigs - you have to cut them to suit your head shape. I'm still cutting my wig 12 months later - you daren't take too much off," he says.

"I went into the Blackpool competition with my good wig and my good suit, and I actually started to do the make-up as well - I'd never worn make-up in my life.

"I just tried to get it right - replica jewellery, replica boots, the voice, the moves, the mannerisms - in whatever I've done I've always tried to get things right, and it's the same with this. A job's not worth doing if you can't do it right.

"I've always thought that - if I thought I was going to look stupid I wouldn't have gone out there."

Mr Larcombe has performed his Elvis show for the Queen while serving on the Royal Yacht Britannia.

"It was great, she loved it, it went down really well. Anyone could have got up, if you had an act. If you were in the royal dining room, you just got up and entertained them after the evening meal," he says.

'Chuffed to bits'

With Mr Larcombe and Norway's Kjell Henning Bjornestad the only non-US acts in the contest, he admitted to feeling the "outsider" as Friday's contest approached.

"I don't know any of the others, apart from Kjell - I've met him a few times, he's a great guy.

"Apart from him, they're all Americans and they all seem to know each other. But there's a couple that have been very, very friendly.

"I've always admired other people that do it and I've got a lot of respect for them. I'm just happy to be in the top 10, I'm chuffed to bits."