Sixty years ago this week, on October 16, 1954, a 19-year-old Elvis Presley stepped on stage at the Louisiana Hayride radio show in the town of Shreveport, Louisiana. Backed by his band, the young man from Memphis, Tennessee, played a song he recorded just a few months earlier called "That's All Right." The first ever recorded broadcast of Elvis was destined to change the sound of music forever.
Of course the King's influence stretches beyond the radio: There was the jolt of his hips, the turn of his collar. And the hair. For a few select of his most devoted fans — around the planet — it's not just about hearing and seeing him, but also being him. So to mark the anniversary of his historic performance, we searched for the world's best Elvis impersonators.
NORWAY
MEXICO
This is Elvis impersonator Hector Ortiz and actress Elsa C¡rdenas, who played alongside Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco, during a film festival in Mexico, in January 2014. Photo: El Universal/ZUMA
CANADA
Canadian singer and Elvis impersonator David Thibault poses on his Triumph motorbike outside a store called "Le 63" in Montreal, Quebec, in July 2014. His voice is also said to be impressively similar to his idol's. Photo: QMI Agency/ZUMA
USA
Cody Slaughter sings "Hound Dog" as he and fellow cast members from the Broadway musical production Million Dollar Quartet perform at the Rock "N" Soul museum in February 2012. Million Dollar Quartet is a fictional retelling of one of the greatest jam sessions in rock "n'roll history, when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley recorded at Sun Studios. Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal/ZUMA
CYPRUS
Rockin" it during the Grand Parade of Limassol Carnival in the southern coastal city of Cyprus, in March 2009. Photo: Xinhua/ZUMA
SWEDEN
Eilert Pilarm gained fame in 1992 in Sweden, when he self-released several cassettes, before his debut CD Greatest Hits was released in 1996. He used to own a Royal Enfield motorbike, but he sold it. Photo: Wikia
AUSTRALIA
"She is the King!" her website says. Jacqueline Feilich, who is "Australian by nurture and Elvis by nature," is the only woman to have ever been selected by Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc. to enter their worldwide search for the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist, in its inaugural 2007 contest. Photo: sheistheking
ISRAEL
Tel Aviv taxi driver and Twiggy Itzik in August 2007. He can't speak English, but he can sing every Presley song ever recorded. Photo: The Commercial Appeal/ZUMA
ENGLAND
Groovin" by the London Eye. Photo: Veronika Lukasova/ZUMA
WALES
In January 2007, tens of thousands Elvis Presley fans descended on the small Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl for a three-day celebration of all things Elvis and listened to Elvis tribute artists at the largest festival of its kind in Europe. What a day that must have been. Photo: Graham M. Lawrence/London News Pictures/ZUMA
SCOTLAND
A Jewish Elvis impersonator in Scotland. Photo: Scotsman/ZUMA
USA
"Straight men are very intimidated by a woman impersonating Elvis. It is one of the last bastions of masculinity — the right to "do" Elvis. ... I personally think he was very queeny, in the 1950s he wore make-up and pink on stage, when that was unheard-of behavior for a straight man," says American Elvis impersonator Elvis Herselvis. Here she is in 1994. Photo: DracoEssentialis
JAPAN
Yoshi Suzuki is actually the stage name of New Yorker Robert Kim. When he impersonates Elvis, Robert pretends he speaks English poorly and with a strong Japanese accent. Photo: dscotnsd screenshot
SOUTH AFRICA
James Marais, one of the top Elvis impersonators across Africa, says he can sing any Elvis song. He started imitating his idol at a very earle age since his father's Elvis record was the only thing he and his family listened to at home. Photo: James Marais
HONG KONG
An Elvis impersonator goes home after a hard night's busking around the bars of Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong's Central District in June 2001. Photo: Ruaridh Stewart/ZUMA
CANADA
Elvis Priestley, aka Archbishop Dorian Baxter, holds service in his independent Anglican church in Canada. Photo: The Toronto Star/ZUMA
JOHNNY CASH
In 1959, Johnny expand=1] Cash did a hilarious imitation of Elvis Presley on television. Spot on! Photo: Domu expand=1] screenshot
OH CHIHUAHUA
This little fella is definitely more than just a hound dog. He may never have caught a rabbit, but he did catch our eye with his costume. Photo: The Palm Beach Post/ZUMA
