“ORION, PERSONIFICATION OF ELVIS” – By Des Kelly
Very recently, a television documentary caught my attention, and held it tenaciously, even though it was a fairly long “true story” regarding James (Jimmy) Ellis, a simple Americsn Country lad whose only wish was to be a great entertainer, pursued his dream, made his way to the “big sticks”, to finally be presented with the stage-name Orion, the masked “ghost” of the king of rock n roll Elvis Presley.
This is just an introduction to what was a most interesting story, which proves how tremendously difficult it is, for anyone to gain recognition, let alone “Star-status”, in
the entertainment field, in America, or anywhere else, for that matter. Orion “made it” alright, but only as a masked
Lone Ranger figure, emulating his own idol, Elvis, who had already passed on. Orion did not need that mask, and this is where the story becomes interesting. Orion, the man who would be King, actually recorded a song with the great Jerry Lee Lewis. The song was”Save the last dance for me”.
Credits for the song include the name Elvis Presley, but folks, Elvis was nowhere around when this song was recorded at the Sun Studio, in Nashville, Tennessee. It was Jerry Lee Lewis singing the song, with the co-oporation of Jimmy Ellis (Orion, without the mask).
I certainly hope that all our readers of eLanka will read and enjoy the story of “Orion, Personification of Elvis.
Desmond Kelly.
(Editor -in-Chief) eLanka
Orion: The Man Who Would Be King – poignant story of Elvis soundalike
Source:The Guardian
The tale of a talented singer and his part in the Elvis-is-alive myth is stranger than fiction, and comes with a sad, shocking ending
John Updike’s comment about celebrity being a mask that eats into the face occurred to me watching this desperately sad film. It is the story of Jimmy Ellis, a singer from Alabama who was cursed with having a voice identical to that of Elvis Presley. He travelled to Nashville and tried to break into the music business – but found that everyone was only interested in his eerie soundalike resemblance to the King. Poignantly, he even released a single entitled I’m Not Trying to Be Like Elvis.
Then an extraordinary disaster-cum-opportunity occurred; in August 1977, the real Elvis died, and cunning record producer Shelby Singleton – who had become owner of the legendary Sun Records – marketed Ellis as a mysterious singer called Orion who wore a mask. This tongue-in-cheek publicity campaign tried to imply to an excitable and credulous public that it actually was Elvis, and the mask was to conceal botched plastic surgery Presley had undertaken after faking his death to escape the burden of world-fame. Jimmy Ellis’s preposterous career more or less created the Elvis-is-alive myth that persists to this day, and Ellis became imprisoned by Elvis’s ghost. There is some intriguing speculation about Ellis’s background and a sad and shocking ending. This is a movie that might have interested cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard, that connoisseur of simulacra. Jimmy Ellis’s story really is stranger than fiction.• Guardian Members can join director Jeanie Finlay for a screening of Orion on 25 September followed by a Q&A with film critic Danny Leigh
