As the world gets all shook up over the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death (16 August 1977 if you wanted to know), swarms of lesbian fans mean that The King lives on in the most unlikely places. Here are ten of the best.


1. El Vez
He’s gay, he’s Mexican, and he plays wigged-out, punked-up versions of Elvis standards that have crossed over to unlikely critical acclaim. El Vez is the man! My sources say that not so long ago he was seen stepping out with an unlikely pop-star boyfriend (hint: think hearing aids and gladioli).


2. Elvis Herselvis
A staple of San Francisco dyke life, Elvis Herselvis was a key player in the drag king scene of the early 1990s. Performing with her backing band, the Straight White Males, Elvis Herselvis brings a whole new twist to songs such as ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and ‘Little Sister’.


3. Extreme Elvis
Elvis’s final, bloated, drugged-up days are the stuff of myth and speculation. Extreme Elvis takes the legend further and behaves as the King might do if he were alive today. Allowing fans to rub his gigantic belly, Extreme Elvis has upset purists by stripping onstage and behaving very badly indeed.


4. Ms Drag Winner 2001
Joanna from Hampstead wowed the crowds with her Elvis during the finals of the National Lesbian Beauty Contest 2001 at London’s Astoria. It may have been a few years ago now, but anyone who saw here will never forget it. The memory lives on.


5. The Flying Elvi
A ten-member group of skydiving Elvi, these guys have lit up the heavens with their spectacular displays of bravery and skill. Fans will also be pleased to know that the troupe are available to drop into birthday parties, commitment ceremonies, and bar mitzvahs, too. Hire them today!


6. Evangelical Elvis
Gary Stone spreads the gospel as Elvis by wearing a white rhinestone jumpsuit, cape and boots, and performing ‘Suspicious Minds’ at church groups, nursing homes and youth rallies. Small children and lesbians have been known to run screaming when he enters the room.


7. Janny James – Britain’s Lady Elvis
Janny started her singing career as a kid onstage at a holiday camp and now she’s the UK’s top female Elvis. She reckons that being sincere and genuine are the most important aspects of the job, although patience helps because she says it takes at least an hour of awkward struggle to get her hair into the right shape before a show.


8. Janice K – The Original Lady Elvis
Elvis began to take hold of Jan’s life when her high school drama teacher cast her as an intergalactic female Elvis on a planet ruled by women. (Lucky cow.) After one Elvis-inspired performance, she said: “The reaction was incredible. I launched into my first number, amidst a wail of screams. And from that night on, I knew the trail I must blaze would be the Elvis Trail, however right or wrong that might be."


9. The Duelling Elvi of Streatham
Rival Elvis impersonators in South London fought for supremacy over seven years at Il Caretto and La Pergola, two down-at-heel Italian restaurants situated a couple of doors from each other on Streatham High Street. Kim Bridges won the vote when a newspaper tried to settle the score, and Il Caretto folded soon after. You couldn’t make this stuff up.


10. Elvis
With so many impersonators – and so many incarnations of his own – it’s easy to forget the greatness of the man himself. Whether he was burning up the stage in black leather during his 1968 comeback show, flirting with Ann-Margret in the ludicrously camp ‘Viva Las Vegas’, scoffing fried peanut butter sandwiches, shooting up television sets, chilling with his redneck pals at Graceland or schmoozing with corrupt president Richard Nixon, there was only ever one real Elvis!



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