He’s performed in major theatres, holiday parks, hotels and corporate events.
He’s toured extensively across the UK and as a support act for Doug Church in the U.S.
He won the unique two part contest in May of 2023 in London called “Mr. Songman” and “ Behind The Curtain: UK Voice of Elvis”.
The gentleman we are speaking of is Mr. Darren H. Presley, an Elvis Tribute Artist.
Darren talked with us about his tribute.
Q- Darren, I see you’ve toured the college and university circuit in the UK. Are college students interested in Elvis?
A- Actually, yeah. There’s a lot of interest especially since Baz Luhrman’s movie on Elvis came out. It’s gone crazy again. There’s a lot of interest from younger people now that have come back to the music of Elvis.
Q- You do corporate events as well. How does that work? Are you given an introduction like “ Elvis is in the building “ and you walk out?
A- Generally with the corporate ones they like to sit down and have dinner and you’ll be introduced. I do multiple shows. I do a Frankie Valli. I also do a Buddy Holly show. So, a big mixture of stuff. Then I have a Roy Orbison show and that one gets booked a lot because they’re getting two tributes in one show.
Q- The Buddy Holly Songbook Tribute must get a lot of bookings too.
A- Yes. You can either put me on as an early Elvis tribute or in outfits , a regular tribute, or you can book as a songbook.
You can have an Elvis Songbook or a Buddy Holly Songbook. There I just go as me and I take on the voice with a ‘live’ band. Some people don’t like tributes. So, the Songbook version works better for them. They don’t want to see you dressed up as the person but they enjoy hearing the vocal impression. It works both ways.
I’ll either get booked for one or another. I’m an impressionist as well. I can take on all different styles of people’s voices from Elvis to Frankie Valli. Frankie Valli at the moment is very, very popular. I’ve combined the Frankie Valli show with Everly Bros. show.
Q- Would the interest in Frankie Valli be because of that Broadway show“ The Jersey Boys”?
A- Exactly.
Q- Do you regularly tour the U.S.?
A- I did when I was with an ETA ( Elvis Tribute Artist) guy named Doug Church. He’s known as “The Voice of Elvis”. He was one of the originals. I toured with him and we did multiple tours of the UK and we toured around New Jersey. Wherever I get booked I’ll go. It’s not just restricted to the UK. I’ll go wherever the bookings take me.
Q- What were you doing before these tribute acts of yours?
A- I started off as a d.j. at 12 years old. My brother used to run a massive Disco road show traveling around the country. That’s where I was introduced to all types of music. It stemmed from there really.
I’ve always been able to do impressions even when I was at school. I was the local impressionist at school so I was always getting in trouble. (laughs).The children asked me to do impressions and they would laugh and I started off with that. Then I was a d.j.
One day my oldest brother had me singing along to Elvis ‘cause he was an Elvis fan and he said, ‘Oh, you sound like a young Elvis’,It just stemmed from there.
So, what happened was I started concentrating on learning the different styles of vocals and then he started putting me on with the Disco road show.
So, I’d come out and do like a 30 minute set. It all stemmed from there.
People saw me and I started getting booked by agents and it just skyrocketed from there really. Once I started doing that I did big places like the NEC in Birmingham and been on tv multiple times. I toured with ‘Mama Mia: Thank You For The Music’ in the UK, Ireland, and Scotland. So yeah, it’s been a pretty good ride.
Q- Isn’t it expensive to afford the costumes, and a traveling band and back-up singers?
A- It is expensive.
Q- Not too many Elvis Tribute artists can afford that.
A- Basically it depends on how you offer it. Some of the big theatres will offer you a split, 60-40% split or 70-30%split. I would take 60% or 70% of the split and the theatre gets the rest.
You’ve got to have some money to lay out first. Generally you have to wait 28 days before you get any money back from the theatre. So, you need to pay the band in advance. That’s how I budget it. What I make at the shows I put a little money away and pay the band after the gig. That way I don’t have to wait for the money to come in. But, that’s generally how it works.
Q- Wouldn’t a promoter be the one to rent out the theatre and the agent to negotiate the terms of how much you would be paid.
A- I did have a promoter. When you have a promoter generally all the money goes to the promoter first and you have to wait until he pays you.
So, because it’s my show and I’ve got multiple shows I’ve started to take control. The guy who does Roy Orbison with me, Reuben Searle, we do it together. So, we put our capital together and so it’s not all on my back. I was doing it all alone and then Reuben came in.
In my opinion he’s got one of the top Roy Orbison vocals in the world as far as I’m concerned. He’s got an amazing voice. So, we put the money together and that’s how we do it. So, we’re in total control.
We still use local agents and promoters if they want to book us. I’ll give them the prices and what we want and they can add whatever they want on top. But, a lot of it I just take control myself. We’ve got our own manager now and she does a really good job.
Q- Because you offer so many different shows, you’re almost in Show Business for life aren’t you?
A- Yeah, hopefully. (laughs). I started quite young. I’ve tried to take breaks from it and do something else but I always come back to it. It’s just in my blood I guess. I’ve helped other musicians along the way .That’s something I like doing as well.
Q- And in another job, people don’t applaud your work and tell you how great you are.
A- You get a lot of accolades but the key to that is not to let it go to your head because sometimes I’ve seen a lot of artists get to a point where they’re happy where they’re at but I’m forever learning and trying to improve on what I do.
Although you get the encouragement you still need to keep your feet on the ground and know there’s always someone better out there. You need to better yourself all the time. I’m constantly improving on the shows. That’s how I work.
The true Elvis fans if you’re a tribute they can be for you or against you. It depends on how you deliver your tribute. So, if you walk around acting like you’re Elvis they won’t accept you, not the true Elvis fans. But, if you’ll just be yourself onstage when you’re doing that tribute they’ll embrace you.
I just do what I do and hope people enjoy what I do and they do.
Gary James
Official Website: www.darrenhpresley.com
