Competition success for West Sussex Elvis Presley tribute artist

SussexWorld

Durrington-based Jon Stoner AKA Johnny B Memphis has just secured a top ten placing in only his second Elvis Presley tribute competition.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt-Greypont, editor at Sussex Newspapers, and this is exciting.

00:06This is the closest I'm ever going to get to Elvis Presley, speaking to John Stoner

00:10of Durrington. Now, John, you've emerged as an Elvis tribute fairly recently, and you've

00:16just completed your second competition up in Birmingham at the European Elvis Championships.

00:21You did pretty well, top 10. You must have been pleased.

00:25Yeah, very pleased. Top 10 in my second contest, I'll take that, you know. There's always room

00:31for improvement.

00:32But what went first? What went well? What were you pleased with?

00:36Vocally, I thought I sounded, and I've looked back at the footage, I thought I sounded good.

00:41I had my moves there, and I looked good on stage, which is a good thing, and audience

00:46reaction was really good. But, you know, I was really happy.

00:51And you were saying room for improvement. Of course, you're just at the start, but what

00:55is it? Is it a question of experience, more experience?

00:58I think feeling experienced, feeling happy on a stage, especially with a live band as

01:04well, because that's very different to performing with sort of like tracks. And just, yeah,

01:10just studying Elvis, his little, you know, mannerisms, his movements. Not everything

01:15has to be all one pace. You can, you know, slow it down at times if you need to. So,

01:20yeah, just, yeah. But I think that's where that's looking back and critiquing is that's

01:24the best way, isn't it, to set up your game next time around?

01:27And it's also about what Elvis means to you. So what does he mean? Why, you know, it's

01:33not so very far off 50 years since he died, is it? He is still so important to so many

01:38millions of people. How can you explain that?

01:41Yeah, I mean, that's such a great question. He's, well, to me and all Elvis fans, he's

01:46the king. So, you know, he's the American dream, the Rags to Riches story, the

01:53guy that from humble beginnings did so much in such a little time and, you know, sadly

02:00died so young, but left a legacy that, you know, people like myself are trying to

02:07continue. So, yeah.

02:09And yet you were visiting Gracelands at the age of 17, you were saying. Is that what made you the fan or were you the fan beforehand?

02:16I wasn't a fan before. No, I went with a friend in his family. His dad is a big Elvis

02:22fan. And we did the Memphis, you know, we did the tour, we did the Sun Studios, the

02:28early bit. And no, I just I just loved it after that.

02:31And I got a real feeling for it.

02:33So that was the opportunity to start doing the tribute.

02:37So it didn't start straight away.

02:40Oh, well, congratulations.

02:41And top 10 in the second competition is brilliant.

02:43So 2025, you've got a third competition coming up and also hoping to do some more gigs.

02:49Yeah, trying to get some some good gigs in my I've had a lot of unfortunately, the way

02:56the pubs and the work is at the moment, it's a little bit quiet with just I think, you

03:05know, people after Christmas, I suppose, are holding on to their money and stuff like that.

03:08And, you know, financially, I think pubs and that kind of entertainment industry is

03:13feeling it a little bit, aren't they?

03:14So and I've had so I've lost a few venues and a few sort of like contacts and that.

03:21But I'm hoping to do some of my own, my own, my own gigs, you know, hiring people,

03:27looking back at it.

03:29Yeah. And, you know, try and look for some band members maybe now.

03:32And and yeah, if I could do a little mini tour across the South of England, I'd be happy

03:38to do that. That would be fantastic.

03:39Well, congratulations on the competition.

03:41Good to speak to you. Thank you.

03:43Thank you. Thank you.

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