Elvis Tribute Artists Radio

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Charles emailed us offering the services of Kraig Parker, one of the world’s leading Elvis Tribute Artists, but with no budget we knew that Kraig was well beyond our means, so we ignored Charles’s incredibly tempting offer. Then he told us that Kraig wanted to break into the UK and Europe, and would love to join our little get-together. With Kraig aboard, more entertainers queued up to join us and just three months later, the first Porthcawl Elvis Festival took place.

The one thing Porthcawl has plenty of is pubs, so we decided that if each was to feature our guest entertainers, we could then afford to pay their fees to play in the Grand Pavilion.

Our first line up included Kraig Parker from Dallas, Martin Elvis from Malta, Colbert Hamilton from London and Danny Summers from Majorca, with Jerry Lee’s sister. Linda Gail Lewis. joining us on the Sunday afternoon. We also attracted many Elvis Tributes from closer to home, amongst them a shy 13-year-old from Swansea called Jelvis, who has since become a mainstay of the Porthcawl Elvis Festival. We also attracted many thousands of Elvis fans from all over the world and every single one of them had a fantastic weekend.

The highlight of the Festival was the Elvies Awards Presentation at the Grand Pavilion, which those lucky enough to attend still talk about reverently. Kraig’s performance was superb, while Martin’s warm smile and mellow voice made him many new fans here. Young Jelvis was understandably very nervous on his first big public performance but hid it incredibly well and impressed all the other more seasoned performers.

There were many other highlights in that busy weekend, but the one recalled most often was the Sunday morning service at Porthcawl’s Trinity Church, where Kraig, Martin and Danny sang to a hushed congregation. Each has their own style, but that day they complemented each other and the atmosphere was electric in the packed church. Since the Porthcawl Elvis Festival is a Welsh affair, we could not let the event pass without some choral singing, and Kenfig Hill Male Voice Choir’s rendition of ‘American Trilogy’ was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.

This year’s Porthcawl Elvis Festival runs from Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October and will be packed with international entertainers and guests. From the USA, we’ll be joined by Kraig Parker & The Royal Tribute Band, The Sweet Inspirations, Jerry Presley, Dick Grob, Sam Thompson, Sandi Pichon, Patsy Andersen and Charles Stone.

From our side of the Atlantic, there’ll be Ireland’s Mark Leen, the ’Emerald Elvis’ and Martin Elvis, while from the UK we will be featuring Mario Kombou, star of London’s West End production of ‘Jailhouse Rock’, Leigh ‘GI’ Casling, winner of the 'Walk A Mile in My Shoes' competition, Gordon Hendricks, winner of ITV’s ‘Stars in Their Eyes’, Colbert Hamilton, Jelvis, MT Knight, The Paul Black Graceland Band and Dave Smith, winner of the Best Welsh Elvis ’05.

There will also be many new and old friends coming over from Dallas and Memphis and we are confident they will all be made as welcome as our first Texan visitors last year. In only its second year, the Porthcawl Elvis Festival is now Europe’s biggest such event and this year we have a show that no Elvis fan can possibly afford to miss.

To see what you missed last year and catch up on this year’s lineup please visit www.elvies.co.uk

See y’all in the fall !!   Thankyuuhverrrymusssh, or as we say in these parts, ‘Diolch yn Fawr iawn’!!!


Steve Maitland Thomas
Festival Manager
Porthcawl Elvis Festival
Wales UK


Details:
www.elvies.co.uk

Cath & Steve Maitland Thomas with the lovely Sandi Haynes Pichon

Kraig Parker, Martin Elvis & Colbert Hamilton discuss the show

Leigh Casling

Gordon Hendricks

Mark Leen

Jelvis

Mario Kombou

MTKnight

Martin Elvis

Porthcawl is a seaside resort on the coast of south Wales, three miles off the M4 motorway, roughly halfway between Cardiff and Swansea. The town’s heyday came and went many years ago, and some here searched for ‘something special’ to attract visitors, apart from our beautiful beaches, breathtaking scenery and the world's friendliest people.

In 1943-44, Porthcawl was home to soldiers from the 28th and 75th US Infantry divisions, who left fond memories and broken hearts behind when they left for Europe, so links between our two nations were already well established.

The Porthcawl Elvis Festival was the creation of my good friend and fellow historian Peter Phillips, who came up with the idea when we discussed ways to help the ailing Grand Pavilion in our lovely little town. Sitting in the auditorium one day Peter turned to me and said, ‘Do you know what would really help the Pavilion?‘

I was thinking of a fresh lick of paint and some new furnishings, when he added ominously, ‘An Elvis Festival!’

So the idea was born and we both put all our collective energies into making it successful. Peter recruited a local Elvis Tribute Artist and we envisaged a small 'Welsh' event, centred on the Grand Pavilion. I took on the task of promoting our fledgling festival and one of the many websites I visited was that of Sandi Haynes Pichon. Sandi had just written a book ‘Raised on Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!’ and had kindly agreed to come to Porthcawl to launch it when she mentioned our ambitious plan to Charles Stone, Elvis’s former tour manager.