If you’re looking for a sign that the music world is an ever-increasing rush to cut ties with its past, then look no further than the economic dive facing that most widely recognised of bizarre humble professions: the Elvis Impersonator.
The golden age in which Las Vegas was lined with professional performers that could live like a king by mimicking The King seems to be disappearing, and while the number of people offering their rhinestone-pressed, bequiffed, jumpsuit-wearing services hasn’t diminished, the demand for Elvis copyists has dropped in recent years.
“The business is not what it used to be… There’s just not the demand,” opines Tyler James to Las Vegas Review Journal in a report on the fading of the Elvis wannabe phenomenon that’s putting many ‘In The Ghetto’, in the words of the rock and roll star.
The 25-year-old James is perhaps Las Vegas’ most in-demand Elvis impersonator, but recognises his position as one of the lucky ones in a market that is all supply and no demand. “There are just so many (impersonators) a lot of people get overlooked,” James said. “It was an uphill battle to get a show.” Even Las Vegas’ most in-demand Elvis impersonator recognises his position as one of the lucky ones in a market that is all supply and no demand.
GigMasters.com, a site that aids people booking parties and events, is a primary source for the dwindling profession, connecting Elvis acts with their bread and butter – wedding-related gigs, corporate events, and adult birthdays.
But in 2012, the site has managed just 800 bookings for the 198 Las Vegas-area Elvis tribute acts that use the service. A figure that shows a sharp decline (around 21%) from the previous year, with 2013 statistics seeing Elvi staring down the barrel of another significant drop. By comparison, GigMaster‘s requests for Elvis impersonators doubled between 2008 and 2011.
Why the sharp lack in demand that sent many entertainers to check in to the proverbial ‘Heartbreak Hotel’? One factor, offers wedding coordinator Carrie Gaudioso who alway uses “the same Elvis,” which is that Elvis wannabes have outgrown their kitsch appeal and are now just seen as tacky.
“The whole Elvisy Vegas red carpet thing is, in my opinion, going out the door,” says Gaudioso who works for the Las Vegas Mon Bel Ami chapel. “That whole era is getting older… Our younger brides do not want cheesy, flashy, Elvis Vegas. They want something nice in their budget.”
Guadioso regularly receives solicitations from hip-shakin, ‘Hound Dog’ howlers but laments “there’s just too much of the same… It’s hard to get your’s in.”
But there’s a far more practical factor at play however: the death of Elvis fans.
While its arguable that Elvis’ musical legacy and legendary status are deathless, his ageing fans aren’t. It’s been 37 years since the legendary rock star permanently ‘left the building’, and since then, many of the baby boomer Elvis fanatics are following The King into shuffling off this mortal coil.
“It’s inevitable. It’s unfortunate, especially for those guys who have big dreams of coming to Vegas,” says impersonator Jimmi Ellis, while pointing to a further evidence of a decline in tribute acts.
“Google tools show us where the market is,” says Ellis of Elvis tribute acts’ reliance on web search and online resources in picking up work, but Google trends shows that US-based searches for Elvis impersonators hit a new low in April 2012, bottoming out in the Nevada region. “The decline is very apparent,” says Ellis.
Regardless, Ellis, who’s been a professional Elvis impersonator for 30 years (and does a sideline as Welsh crooner Tom Jones) says is optimistic that the downturn for Elvis mimics is only temporary.
“My personal opinion is the number of tribute artists will always grow. There’s such a fascination with this man and his legacy and his life.”
