Elvis impersonator speaks on experience, inspiration
If you ever find yourself at the The Grand Lake Health / Premier Health North YMCA in the mid-morning during the week, you may hear Elvis Presley singing in the gymnasium. While the King passed away long ago, one of his biggest fans can be found singing his tunes.
“I got hooked on Elvis when I was 12 years old,” said Adam Thompson, who most recently impersonated Presley at the Wapakoneta Halloween Parade in October.
I caught up with Thompson at
Benchmark Human Services in St. Marys to talk about his talent. Benchmark Human Services helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live more independent lives. Thompson said that he attended a show in St. Henry, Ohio where Presley’s son, Elvis Presley Junior, gave a performance, and it wasn’t a totally positive experience.
“He looked like his dad, sounded like him, and even wanted me to come on stage. A lot of people said he wasn’t nice, and that isn’t the kind of stuff I wanted to hear,” said Thompson. When he was sixteen, he went to a talent show in New
Knoxville where he dressed like Elvis and performed.
“I dressed up like Elvis and thats how I got to hear his songs, and got to be hooked up with Elvis,” said Thompson. Thompson said that he once visited Graceland and got to record Elvis’ song ‘Burning Love’ at Sun Records, where Elvis himself recorded.
Thompson isn’t just a fan of Elvis’ stage persona, he also knows a lot about his career, and personal life as well, and will talk your ear off about Elvis.
“I watched documentaries, the first one I saw was when i was 12 and was called ‘Elvis, That’s The
Way He Is’, and I told my grandma that, that is what I wanted to do,” said Thompson. In order to sing like Elvis though, he had to have some encouragement.
“My grandma Thompson actually taught me how to sing just like Elvis. She went to see him in Las Vegas, and had posters of him all over her house,” said Thompson. Thompson said that his grandma got him singing like Elvis, and that soon she realized he had a real talent.
“She said ‘you know what, my grandson, he really sings just like