“The world of Elvis Tribute Artists is a big one. Everyone has their own opinions on each artist. I myself, give them all credit for bringing memories back for the fans. In my case, being 17, I am too young to have seen or heard the real Elvis Presley. I enjoy watching the tribute artists re-create the moments everyone loved” ___________________________Cortney

Hello once again! Welcome to Cortney's Corner November Edition. This month I will tell you a little about Ray Guillemette Jr. "A-Ray Of Elvis" The first time I’d ever seen Ray was in March of 1997. My mom was running her first ever Elvis Impersonator contest, here in South Bend, Indiana, and Ray was one of the applicants. He sent a promo pack and from the pictures, I thought he looked really cool.

Contest time came, and he was awesome! I could tell I was going to have another to add to my list of favorites. I was very impressed with Ray's performance. He ended up taking third place, which was even more exciting! He also planned to come back a few weeks later and do a show with Irv Cass. I instantly became a Ray fan, and even joined his fan club. That's pretty difficult being in a fan club of someone you don't see a lot, as Ray lives in MA. He came back to do the show with Irv and I had front row, center stage seats! I couldn't have asked for a better seat. Since then I had always been a Ray fan.

I’d seen him in Memphis a few times, but never really got a chance to talk to him or get to know him. This month, at the Elvis FANtasy Fest in Portage Indiana, Ray showed up! We stayed at the Ramada hotel, and my mom came back to the room and said "You'll never guess who I’ve just seen!" I asked her who she’d seen and when she said Ray Guillemette, I was so excited! It had been so long since I’d seen Ray. She then told me that he said he had something going on in Toronto that got canceled, so he came on down to Portage. Ray sang a song at the Sock Hop the Friday night, and danced with some fans. Saturday I got a chance to talk to Ray, who told me I was famous, as he had seen my articles here on Lady Luck Music. That was quite impressive. He then became like a friend I had always knew. We talked a few more times throughout the weekend. Let's just say it was good to see him again.

Let me tell you a little about Ray. He won his first ever contest in 1993, that being the Images Of Elvis Competition in Memphis, TN. Over the past few years, Ray has performed in Japan, Canada and of course the US. He has also been able to perform with such greats as the Jordinariares, and DJ Fontana. He won the contest in Ontario, Canada in 1995 & 1997.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my experiences with Ray
Guillemette. Please visit his website at www.arayofelvis.com
Don't forget you can always e-mail me and let me know what you think of Cortney's Corner!
Until next time....Keep Rockin'!

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Cortney’s email:

Elvis6240@aol.com