Meet Australia’s oldest ELVIS IMPERSONATOR
HE’S ALMOST 80, BUT IAN IS STILL ALL SHOOK UP FOR THE KING
Ian Harris was just 12 years old when he first heard an Elvis Presley song. It was 1956, and Ian and his family were on a road trip, driving in his grandparents’ ’33 Dodge, when ‘Don’t Be Cruel’ came on the radio.
“I started tapping my hand on my knee and asked my dad to turn it up,” Ian, now 79, recalls. “I wanted to know who was singing it – it touched me immediately. Mum loved it too, but Dad thought it was garbage.”
Ian took no notice of his dad’s opinion. When Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was released later that year, he learnt to play a few of his songs on the guitar.
“Some of his early songs only had three chords, so they were easy to play.”
By the time Ian was 18, he was playing in a country band with some mates in his home town of Warrandyte, Victoria.
“I used to talk them into letting me do an Elvis song here and there,” he says. “I never dressed up though.”
Ian’s fascination with the ‘King of Rock’n’roll’ continued, and eventually he decided to put a show on at his local country club – this time in costume. It was a huge success, and gave Ian the bug. He decided his next step would be to
‘When I’m waiting to come on, I get butterflies’
perform at Parkes Elvis Festival in western NSW, Australia’s largest and most recognised Elvis event. This year marks the festival’s 30th birthday.
In 2002, Ian won some money on the horses and decided to make the trip.
“I arrived at about three o’clock in the morning and pitched my tent in the dark,” he recalls. “When I woke up the next day, the first people I met were Bob and Anne Steele who’d started the festival.
They said, ‘have you got an outfit with you?’ When I said ‘yes’, they told me there was going to be a singing contest later, and did I want to join in? I thought, ‘why not’. I sang ‘Wonder of You’ and won the competition.”
Ian quickly became known on the circuit for his talent, and was soon being asked to perform around the country.
“When I’m out the back waiting to come on, I get butterflies, I’m shaking and feel nervous. But as soon as I step through the curtain and grab the microphone, that disappears.
“When you see a few hundred people sitting there; you think, you’ve got to give them the best
you possibly can.”
He believes people love seeing Elvis impersonators for more than just the music.
“Vocally, there are much better singers than Elvis. But it was what he did with what he had. He was very creative. He was one of a kind.”
Ian has been to Parkes nearly every year since 2002 and has no plans to stop any time soon.
“I’d love to perform as Elvis when I’m 80,” he says. “If you don’t use it, you lose it.”