ETA Spotlight on Lou Vuto
Elvis Tribute Artists Radio
Ladyluckmusic.com
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When I was 16 years old, my high School was putting on a talent show. They called it “The Gong Show,” named after a popular television show at that time. Some guys who played instruments had been talking about asking me to perform with them. I had never met them before but they had known each other. I guess they had been talking and figured they could play some Elvis music behind me if I was willing to sing. When they asked me I jumped at the chance. I sang Blue Suede Shoes on the night of the contest and we won first place! (Actually it was a tie and we shared first prize with Dino Fragosie and his band. They played “Cat Scratch Fever.”) To me, the highlight of the evening wasn’t that we won, it was the unbelievable reaction from the crowd. We were behind the curtain, ready to go. The M.C. was speaking and whoever was in charge of the curtain must have thought he was finished talking and started opening the curtain. Before he realized that he had opened it too soon, it had opened just enough for the audience to get a quick glimpse of my suit and the crowed went crazy, screaming. Realizing he made a mistake, he quickly closed the curtain again. Their reaction scared the crap out of us. We didn’t expect that at all. As a matter of fact, some of us had a last minute fear that we would be doing something that made ourselves look foolish. After the initial shock of the audiences reaction, we were pumped knowing they were anticipating what we were about to do. When the curtain finally opened and we did our thing and the people went wild. It was so surreal and it was over with before I realized it.
I guess you could say that started the “bug.” It was my first experience performing. I couldn’t believe that what I had done had made people happy and actually gotten a good reaction.
I wanted more, so we talked about doing an all Elvis show. We rented the same High School Auditorium. We rehearsed for a month and sold tickets and put on a show. I don’t think we made any money once we paid for everything but I didn’t care, I loved doing it. To me, the first requirement for anyone who wants to perform a Salute to Elvis Presley, you have to be a fan first. The next thing is you have to love what you do, because, especially when you are starting out you may not get paid for performing. It takes time to perfect your craft and you have to take the time to develop it the right way. There are too many people out there already who haven’t taken the time to develop their craft. You want what you do to be a compliment to Elvis and his memory. Take the time you need to work on it. Work on the voice, work on the moves, work on communicating that heart that Elvis showed on stage. So, that means if you are starting out and you have to do shows for no pay so that you can work on these things, put in the effort, it will pay off.
After the two High School shows, I was performing mostly “freebees” for friends and family. During those years there was no such thing as track music, so I had to either play my guitar or sing without music. In the early 90s I purchased some Karaoke tapes with Elvis’ music on them and was later asked to sing at a friends 50’s party. There was a local DJ there who told me he could get me work if I wanted to get paid for this. I thought that was the greatest thing in the world. “You mean somebody will pay me to sing like Elvis?” I had heard about Elvis Impersonators but I guess I never considered I could do it well enough so that someone would actually pay me. My first gig was a wedding. I sang for 45 minutes and got paid $35.00. Over the years I performed and paid some dues. I went to see other guys doing shows. I remember being very impressed when I saw Eddie Miles perform. Over the years I have admired other performers; guys like Chris T. Young, Irv Cass, Trent Carlini and Shawn Klush, just to name a few.
I have also had the opportunity to be in some contests over the years and I love them. I love them not because of the outcomes, because to be honest, I have never done well in contests, but what I learned from other contestants has been a great part of my learning also.
I look at all the things I’ve done over the years as part of “going to school.” You have to have training for anything you want to be good at. There are no “Elvis Impersonator Training Schools,” so your curriculum is what you make it.
In 1995 I was offered the job at Memories Theatre, a theater that specializes in saluting Elvis. The owner at that time, Michael Ferraro, had been coming to see some of my shows in Ohio and when his headliner was getting ready to move on he offered me the position. I have been performing in the Smoky Mountains now for 10 years and I love what I do. I know I’m not the best “Elvis” in the world but I feel I have the best gig in the world and I am very thankful for that opportunity. I am very thankful to Dee Gallon (the present owner of Memories) for allowing me this wonderful opportunity as I continue to perform at Memories.
The highlight of all this has been the opportunity I have had to perform with one of Elvis’ best friends, Mr. Charlie Hodge. Over the years he had taken me under his wing and taught me so many things about performing. He didn’t tell me things like “Elvis moved this way” or “Elvis did it this way.” He shared some of the same things with me that he and Elvis used to talk about so that I have gotten to see why Elvis did some of the things he did. Why he sang certain songs or why he sang a song a certain way. How he laid out a show and so much more. Because of Charlie, I was privileged to see a lot of the heart of Elvis as well as Charlie’s heart regarding performing. I was also blessed to develop a friendship with Charlie over the years and he is one of those people that has made a tremendous impact on my life and I will never forget him.
My career up to this point has been a wonderful ride and I will continue doing what I am doing as long as I can continue to do a good job and as long as people want to keep coming to see what I do.
Thank you again to Lady Luck and all of you who have taken the time to read this.
I guess you could say that started the “bug.” It was my first experience performing. I couldn’t believe that what I had done had made people happy and actually gotten a good reaction.
I wanted more, so we talked about doing an all Elvis show. We rented the same High School Auditorium. We rehearsed for a month and sold tickets and put on a show. I don’t think we made any money once we paid for everything but I didn’t care, I loved doing it. To me, the first requirement for anyone who wants to perform a Salute to Elvis Presley, you have to be a fan first. The next thing is you have to love what you do, because, especially when you are starting out you may not get paid for performing. It takes time to perfect your craft and you have to take the time to develop it the right way. There are too many people out there already who haven’t taken the time to develop their craft. You want what you do to be a compliment to Elvis and his memory. Take the time you need to work on it. Work on the voice, work on the moves, work on communicating that heart that Elvis showed on stage. So, that means if you are starting out and you have to do shows for no pay so that you can work on these things, put in the effort, it will pay off.
After the two High School shows, I was performing mostly “freebees” for friends and family. During those years there was no such thing as track music, so I had to either play my guitar or sing without music. In the early 90s I purchased some Karaoke tapes with Elvis’ music on them and was later asked to sing at a friends 50’s party. There was a local DJ there who told me he could get me work if I wanted to get paid for this. I thought that was the greatest thing in the world. “You mean somebody will pay me to sing like Elvis?” I had heard about Elvis Impersonators but I guess I never considered I could do it well enough so that someone would actually pay me. My first gig was a wedding. I sang for 45 minutes and got paid $35.00. Over the years I performed and paid some dues. I went to see other guys doing shows. I remember being very impressed when I saw Eddie Miles perform. Over the years I have admired other performers; guys like Chris T. Young, Irv Cass, Trent Carlini and Shawn Klush, just to name a few.
I have also had the opportunity to be in some contests over the years and I love them. I love them not because of the outcomes, because to be honest, I have never done well in contests, but what I learned from other contestants has been a great part of my learning also.
I look at all the things I’ve done over the years as part of “going to school.” You have to have training for anything you want to be good at. There are no “Elvis Impersonator Training Schools,” so your curriculum is what you make it.
In 1995 I was offered the job at Memories Theatre, a theater that specializes in saluting Elvis. The owner at that time, Michael Ferraro, had been coming to see some of my shows in Ohio and when his headliner was getting ready to move on he offered me the position. I have been performing in the Smoky Mountains now for 10 years and I love what I do. I know I’m not the best “Elvis” in the world but I feel I have the best gig in the world and I am very thankful for that opportunity. I am very thankful to Dee Gallon (the present owner of Memories) for allowing me this wonderful opportunity as I continue to perform at Memories.
The highlight of all this has been the opportunity I have had to perform with one of Elvis’ best friends, Mr. Charlie Hodge. Over the years he had taken me under his wing and taught me so many things about performing. He didn’t tell me things like “Elvis moved this way” or “Elvis did it this way.” He shared some of the same things with me that he and Elvis used to talk about so that I have gotten to see why Elvis did some of the things he did. Why he sang certain songs or why he sang a song a certain way. How he laid out a show and so much more. Because of Charlie, I was privileged to see a lot of the heart of Elvis as well as Charlie’s heart regarding performing. I was also blessed to develop a friendship with Charlie over the years and he is one of those people that has made a tremendous impact on my life and I will never forget him.
My career up to this point has been a wonderful ride and I will continue doing what I am doing as long as I can continue to do a good job and as long as people want to keep coming to see what I do.
Thank you again to Lady Luck and all of you who have taken the time to read this.
First of all, a big thank you to Lady Luck Music for asking me to do the Spotlight for this month. There is a lot of great talent who have written on these pages and it’s an honor to be among them.
I was born and raised in The Bronx in New York City. I’ve been an Elvis fan since I was 10 years old. I even got to see Elvis in concert when I was thirteen years old at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Growing up, Elvis had such an impact and made quite an impression on me. I started out buying his records, then anything I could get my hands on to read about who he was. I guess you would say that Elvis’ music and performance is what got my attention, but as I learned more about who he was, I began to like him as a person and many of the things he believed in. I noticed he was very kind to people, very humble, very down to earth, someone with a great deal of depth and of particular interest to me, someone who loved God. I think because I was in my formative years, he was an example to me in many respects, of the type of person I wanted to be. I have to say at this point I can’t remember ever wanting to be an Elvis Impersonator, I was just impressed by Elvis and who he was.
All through High School, all my friends knew that I was an Elvis fan. I loved Elvis’ style, so I would even dress in similar ways. If nothing else, I would have my collar turned up. With my dark hair and trying to be cool I was hard to miss and blended in well with the “Greaser Crowd.” Everyone in our group would have something they did to “show off,” mine was singing Elvis’ songs. I’d try to sound like him as I sang his songs and I noticed my friends liked it. Here I was in High School wanting to be cool, wanting to be accepted, so I was happy to sing and entertain everyone around the lunch tables who would listen.
I was born and raised in The Bronx in New York City. I’ve been an Elvis fan since I was 10 years old. I even got to see Elvis in concert when I was thirteen years old at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Growing up, Elvis had such an impact and made quite an impression on me. I started out buying his records, then anything I could get my hands on to read about who he was. I guess you would say that Elvis’ music and performance is what got my attention, but as I learned more about who he was, I began to like him as a person and many of the things he believed in. I noticed he was very kind to people, very humble, very down to earth, someone with a great deal of depth and of particular interest to me, someone who loved God. I think because I was in my formative years, he was an example to me in many respects, of the type of person I wanted to be. I have to say at this point I can’t remember ever wanting to be an Elvis Impersonator, I was just impressed by Elvis and who he was.
All through High School, all my friends knew that I was an Elvis fan. I loved Elvis’ style, so I would even dress in similar ways. If nothing else, I would have my collar turned up. With my dark hair and trying to be cool I was hard to miss and blended in well with the “Greaser Crowd.” Everyone in our group would have something they did to “show off,” mine was singing Elvis’ songs. I’d try to sound like him as I sang his songs and I noticed my friends liked it. Here I was in High School wanting to be cool, wanting to be accepted, so I was happy to sing and entertain everyone around the lunch tables who would listen.
This month's ETA Spotlight features Lou Vuto, who since 1995 has graced the stage of Memories Theatre in Tennessee with his "Salute To Elvis" tribute. Lou writes about the people he's met during the course of his career, his fascination with not only Elvis' music, but with Elvis the person and tells of how this inspired him to become the entertainer he is today. "Thanks for the Memories" and story Lou!