In 2009 Richie Santa made a life changing decision.
He decided to become a full-time Elvis Tribute Artist.
His focus is on the Las Vegas jumpsuit years of Elvis.
He’s performed hundreds of shows and had the chance to meet Jerry Lee Lewis, Danny Aiello, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Rodney Dangerfield to name just a few.
Richie Santa spoke with us about the act he takes on the road.
Q- People never seem to get tired of Elvis do they?- which is good for you.
A- True. This is very, very true and it’s baffling sometimes. I mean I’m a huge fan and people ask me sometimes ‘Do you have to be a fan to do a tribute?’ Well, I never really thought of that but in my case it just makes it more real because I’m such a huge, huge Elvis fan. Paying tribute to him is an honor. People just love the man. He’s gone 48 years and they still get a kick out of watching tribute artists emulate him. I guess the connection himself was that strong that all these years later they enjoy watching the guys re-live it all over again.
Q- In 2009 you decided to do this Elvis Tribute. What happened in your life that led you to make that decision?
A- I was always in entertainment. I played with different bands, playing clubs, bars. Playing Rock’n’Roll music. You know the lifestyle. You go on at like 11 or 11:30 P.M. You’re done at 3 o’clock in the morning. You pack up the equipment. You go to the diner to eat. That’s the routine. I did a lot of that before I even got to Elvis, but being an Elvis fan he was always my inspiration at a very young age to become an entertainer. So, I did everything else but him. At some point I started doing Elvis . I was still working with a band. But, I left that and I said my passion is Elvis, Elvis’s music. I’m going to stop doing everything that I’m doing for the dollar and I’m just going to do what I love. And it was the best thing I ever did. So, I started doing Elvis full-time about 7 years ago, but I’m doing it 16 years. I still had stuff lingering but, it was never really my passion. I never really felt fulfilled. I always felt like I was just going through the motions and I didn’t want to do that anymore. I wanted to just do what I love. So, no matter what I do now whether it’s a small gig or a big gig I’m always excited to get ready and go and do it and I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire career.
Q- What kind of questions do people ask you after your show?
A- Well, they want to know what my favorite Elvis song is. That’s one of the questions I get. They want to know if my hair is real and my sideburns are real which they are. It’s just easier to get ready for shows when you just have it naturally. When I walk around people see the connection and it’s like free advertisement. So, I take pictures and hand out cards. They ask me how many years I’ve been doing it which I’ll be starting my 17th year in October ( 2025). I can’t think of anything else that’s important to people. I think what they really want to see , from my experience is that there’s a person they can connect with after the show is over. I don’t really try to put it on like they’re talking to Elvis. They’re talking to me now. I think people appreciate that, that I’m not so delusional that I think I’m him.
Q- So, you don’t try to put on a Southern accent then?
A- Not when I talk to people, no. I just don’t think it’s that important. I mean I’m still in the suit. They just saw the show. I put the voice on a little bit, I mean the voice when I sing. I try to get as close to Elvis as I possibly can. People over the years have been very nice and complimentary about my voice. I try to do a little bit of his speaking voice but I don’t want to be over the top with that. When I actually get to meet people they see me. They get to meet me. And, I think people really like that.
Q- I interviewed one Elvis Tribute guy very early on by the name of “ Big El” ( Larry Seth). Have you heard of him?
A- No, I haven’t . Is he still out there?
Q- No. I saw him in June of 1978. He looked and sounded just like Elvis. After the show as I’m interviewing him, and he’s signing autographs, a woman comes up, opens her blouse and asks him to sign across her chest.
A- Right.
Q- He goes “ Now I know how Elvis felt when he sang “ All Shook Up”.
A- Well, that is what you want if you’re going to be a successful tribute artist , to get that kind of response . Nobody in my opinion even the Top guys out there today look like Elvis. There are guys that when they’re onstage with the lighting and the make-up at certain angles … you get the point. But, nobody looks exactly like Elvis. But, I get that kind of response myself. Certain women will scream. They come over and hug you. In certain cases I’ve gotten underwear. I’ve signed chests and all of that stuff. You say to yourself if I wasn’t getting any of that then I wouldn’t have a career.
Q- You’re doing something for the audience.
A- Exactly. I don’t over think it. I just say O.K. I’m blessed that I can do what I love and get the response necessary to keep a career going and I’m very happy with that.
Q- I assume all age groups are coming out to see you show.
A- Old. Very old. In between and families bring their kids as well. I get these looks from kids. They think I’m maybe like a Disney character. They don’t know what to think at first. If I’m walking down the street they tap on their mother’s leg or father’s leg. They get really close to the leg ‘cause they don’t know exactly what I am. Walking around with sideburns and black hair is a little different from the norm. But, when they come to the shows I enjoy all the people that come. They’re always, always nice.
Q-Do you sign scarves as well?
A- Yes. I do sign scarves.
Q- And how do you sign those scarves?
A- They have markers and it’s supposed to be better on scarf material than like a normal pen. I do tell them if my signature looks like a 3 year old wrote it that’s because signing scarves is different. So, they will hold the material out. I will hold the material out and make it as smooth as possible and do the best I can. But, I get requests for that all the time and I sign pictures as well.
Q- You decided to concentrate on the jumpsuit years of Elvis in Las Vegas.
A- Yes.
Q- Is that because so few Tribute artists were or are doing that?
A- Well, there was no particular reason other than the fact that that’s what I was excited about doing. I still do some of the older stuff. If you’re in a contest you can’t really jump around. You gotta stay in the era you’re doing, but when you’re doing your own ‘live’ show you can do whatever you want. So, I will throw songs in from the 50’s even though I’m wearing a jumpsuit. So, I give people a mix. But, the jumpsuit era was always something that excited me the most and I have 20 jumpsuits now. I have all kinds of Elvis casual clothes. The jumpsuit era is basically what excites me. I love everything Elvis did but when I put on the jumpsuit you feel like you’re putting on your Superman costume and you’re ready to go out there and perform.
Q- It’s interesting that other performers copied Elvis with that white jumpsuit. Wayne Newton for one as well as The Osmond Bros.
A- Donny tells a story where Elvis used to call up The Osmonds home when they were younger and all at home. This is back in the 70’s. Elvis used to call and speak to their mother and have conversations with her. I guess he influenced The Osmonds to get in touch with his jumpsuit maker and make them jumpsuits as well. There’s nothing else it could be. They’re copying Elvis’s stage wear. I don’t know how long it lasted but it worked for awhile.
Q- Johnny Carson once said “ If life was fair Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.”
A- Yeah, I heard that.
Q- You don’t call yourself an impersonator.
A- – No.
Q- You don’t call yourself an imitator.
A- No.
Q- You used to bill yourself as a “Tribute To The King” didn’t you?
A- Well I think the guys at ETA ( Elvis Tribute Artists) used it because it sounds better than impersonator. I have mixed feelings about all of that. I feel on one level that if you’re putting on a jumpsuit and your hair is black and it’s in the style of Elvis and you’re trying to sing like him, talk like him, look like him, portray his whole image – Yes in one way it is a tribute. But, doesn’t that sound like an impersonation? I think it’s a mixture of both. On the same point I’m going to make is if you saw a picture of me and I’m wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt and my hair is nothing like Elvis I can call that a tribute to Elvis as well, right? What does a tribute mean? You don’t have to look like him or sound like him or act like him. A tribute is just acknowledging his music. So, I have mixed feelings about it. But, if somebody called me an imitator I don’t get annoyed at that. If they called me a tribute artist I don’t get annoyed at that. When I’m onstage it’s more about me conveying the essence of what Elvis was onstage. I don’t try to do everything exactly like him. That’s not my thing. There are guys out there that pay more attention to other details and that’s fine. That’s their thing and they’re very good at it. But, I’m more like the Elvis that was in the moment and Elvis was very much in the moment when he was onstage. He never knew what he was going to do or say. And that’s the way I am naturally. So, I add a little bit of myself in and I add in Elvis and we have a show. And people like it.
Q- So it’s not Richie Santa : A Tribute To The King?
A- Well, I don’t use that so much anymore. That’s what I was using early on about 6 or 7 years ago. My brother and I were doing shows at The Strand Theatre in Lakewood, New Jersey. For every show we did there we were trying to come up with a name for the show. It would be Blah, Blah, Blah Featuring Richie Santa. We started using Elvis Forever and it just carried on from one show to the next. So now the show is called Elvis Forever featuring myself. I’m doing a show at Cape Maine, New Jersey at the Convention Hall on the day that he actually passed, August 16th. We call that Elvis Forever. So, everything I do is basically Elvis Forever.
Q- I recall Elvis did not like to be called the King. In fact at one concert someone held up a sign saying “ Elvis: The King Of Rock’n’Roll “and he stopped the show and said “ There’s only one King and I’m not him”. He probably hated that just as much as being called “ Elvis the Pelvis”.
A- Yeah. He didn’t like that either. At the end of the Aloha concert somebody gave him a crown and he took it but he didn’t put it on his head. He just went backstage with it. I’d be interested to know what happened to that. But there was only one King. And being the religious man he was I guess he thought it flattering that people thought that much of him but he acknowledged the true King.
Q- Did you ever get to see Elvis perform?
A- No, unfortunately.
Q- I saw Elvis in concert in July 1976.
A- The last show he did in ’77 you could see that he was bloated and he looked unhealthy to me and I guess to most of the world, And yet the Col. Still put that on the air which I don’t know why he did that. It didn’t show Elvis in his best light. And then you could look at videos of him in ’76 and he looked in my opinion , trim and healthier. So, what happened to him in that short period of time that he blew up that way? It’ll always be a mystery. My brother besides being my manager is an Elvis fan himself and a performer and we discuss Elvis quite often and it’s always the same questions. We’ll be guessing forever.
Q- Maybe not. His autopsy is supposed to be released in 2027. Did you know that?
A- I did not. Thank-you for telling me that.
Q- It was a private autopsy that Vernon had done and sealed for 50 years. So, we should know what
happened.
A- Even if that stuff comes out there will be people second guessing that too.
Q- I’ve interviewed people over the years who strongly believe that Elvis is very much alive, that he faked his death. He would be 90 this year ( 2025) but at some point the narrative has to change to, if he didn’t die on August 16th 1977 then how long did he live after that date?
A- I had a friend of mine , a promoter come over to me one day and say “ I know somebody that told me Elvis is now dead but he did not die when people think he died”. So, however long he lived after 1977 , he’s now gone, but who knows?
©Gary James
Official Website: www.richiesanta.com
