Known as Elvis Wade... Wade Cummins is a talented and gifted entertainer. He was born in the Watts Hill area of rural Tennessee, near the town of Mt. Pleasant. His father was a former moonshiner...and they didn't have much money, although they were richly blessed with a musical form of folk art familiar in the south...the family circle..singing and playing music together. Between Wade's mom and dad, they played 17 musical instruments. Wade was the youngest of 7 children and inherited their talents.

Ironically, his first “professional” performances were not long after he, like many, saw Elvis Presley perform live on the “Ed Sullivan Show.” At only 9 years old, Wade would accompany his proud uncle to neighborhood taverns...and he would 'mimic' Presley for dimes and quarters from cheering customers and friends.

Wade joined his first band playing rhythm guitar when he was 13 and soon became their lead singer playing the bass guitar. They became local favorites playing Hops; and at 16, WADE AND THE NATIONALS performed in top night clubs. Later, Wade performed with the show band LAFAYETTE AND LES SABRES and as lead singer with a powerful 4 octave range, did many vocal impressions on some hot cover tunes of Gene Pitney, Tom Jones, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Gary Puckett, Frankie Valli, and of course...Elvis Presley.

One night in 1968, during their performance, Wade received a special request to perform”One Night With You.” He'll tell you sincerely, as a joke and much as he'd done when he was 9 years old, he began his impression of Presley. I did all the hip shakin' and everything, thinking I'd get a laugh,” he says, “but they gave me a standing ovation and yelled for more!”

The show was soon transformed to focus on the Elvis Presley image, much to the delight of many loving audiences. He's been performing for Elvis fans ever since. Presley himself saw the show in 1976 and gave Wade a standing ovation... One of only two such ovations ever reported seen by Presley staffers.

His show has never ceased to be in great demand, originating 9 years before Presley's untimely death in 1977 – and catapulted to even greater prominence since. Presley's step-mother contacted Elvis Wade in 1984 and joined his “Tribute to Elvis” tour acting as a font of knowledge for Elvis fans. "I recommend his show to truly be the finest tribute to Elvis"...Dee Presley. In 1986, the Jordanaires – Presley's longtime back-up vocalists for all of his live performances, records and movies... and nominated for the Country Music Association "Hall Of Fame" – contacted Elvis Wade to perform with them for an international tour. They performed together for over 12 years... breaking hearts and attendance records everywhere.

Orion - Jimmy Ellis

• Birth Name: Jimmy Ellis
• Genre: Country
• Active: '60s - '90s
• Instrument: Vocals

Biography

The music industry is filled with many strange tales of artists whose lives took unexpected turns on the winding road to success, but the saga of singer Jimmy Ellis is perhaps one of the weirdest of them all. He was professionally known as Orion, and his double-edged claim to fame was that his natural speaking and singing voice sounded almost exactly like that of Elvis Presley Ellis hailed from Orrville, Alabama and began his recording career in 1964. In 1972, he worked for Sun Records (Presley's label) with producer Shelby Singleton in Nashville. His first two singles were covers of two of the King's former hits, "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky."

The strange part of the tale began in January, 1979 when author Gail Brewer-Giorgio received a bizarre early morning phone call. Two years before she had begun a novel about a musical superstar, Orion, who faked his own death to find much-needed peace and privacy, based on the circumstances surrounding Elvis' death. The mysterious phone call came from a stranger with a Preselys' Like voice, claiming to be Orion. A year prior, Jimmy Ellis' voice had been overdubbed with Jerry Lee Lewis on an old single from the Sun archives, "Save the Last Dance for Me; " on it, Ellis was billed only as "Friend." The single made the Top 20 and caused quite a stir as listeners tried to guess the mysterious "Friend's" identity. An album featuring the duet came out and the controversy really heated up when Good Morning America  had the Friend's voice "scientifically scanned and analyzed" and concluded that it could be no one but Presley. Giorgio's book had just come out, so Singletone decided to cash in on its popularity and transform Jimmy Ellis into the mysterious "Orion" who had phoned the author earlier that year. Ellis' hair and long sideburns were dyed black, and he dressed in a loud, bejeweled polyester jumpsuits, with a mask to protect him from crazed fans.

"Orion" recorded a single, "Ebony Eyes," for Sun in 1979, which became part of his debut album, Reborn. The album cover itself generated controversy because it depicted a phantom singer rising from a coffin, and was later withdrawn. He released two more albums in 1980; the third, Trio Plus, featured Orion's voice overdubbed on old cuts with Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Charlie Rich. The albums were quite popular, and Orion had three Top 70 hits, including "Am I That Easy to Forget." He had four minor hits the following year, including the contemporary rockabilly song "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," originally recorded by the rock group Queen.  Ellis continued recording and performing through 1983 as Orion, and scored only one more minor hit before trying to break his Sun contract to become a recognized performer in his own right.

While performing at the Eastern States Exposition, Ellis took off the mask and swore to never wear it again. Unfortunately, despite the fact that most of the songs he recorded were not covers of Elvis songs, he could not escape the uncanny similarities between their natural voices. At one point he even released the single "I'm Trying Not to Sound Like Elvis." During his time with Sun, Ellis/Orion cut over 11 albums and toured with the Oak Ridge Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis and other stars like Dionne Warwick. As Jim Ellis, he released an album in 1987 and continued to tour North America; interestingly, he resumed wearing his mask.

On December 12, 1998, Jimmy Ellis was shot and killed by a man who was robbing his pawnshop in Alabama. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Music Guide

Ronnie McDowell
Biogrpahy

Ronnie McDowell was born in Portland, Tennessee in March of 1950.  

Ronnie McDowell made his first network television appearance on American Bandstand.

Ronnie McDowell has been a television guest on various other shows including TNN's Nashville Now, Crook & Chase, and This Week in Country Music.  He has also appeared on such TV programs as The Tommy Hunter Show, American Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, CNN's Show Biz Today, and is the only artist to have ever performed during the Jefferson Awards in the Supreme Court.

Ronnie McDowell has been one of the staff performers on TNN's Music City Tonight where he appeared regularly on that show for 1-1/2 years.

Ronnie McDowell has recorded the audio on TV commercials for Miller Lite, Red Lobster, KFC, the King Candy Company in Holland, Chevrolet, and the State of Tennessee.

Ronnie McDowell has recorded music videos from a number of his own songs including: Step Back, I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, I Got a Million of 'em, Make Me Late for Work Today, Never Too Old to Rock n' Roll, American Music, Paralyzed, Unchained Melody, Just Our of Reach (of My Two Empty Arms), When a Man Loves a Woman, Yippy-Ti-Yi-Yo, What's It Gonna Take, and I'll Make Love to You.

Ronnie McDowell has been featured in such national publications as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Country Song Roundup, Grit, Country America, Music City News, the National Examiner, Country Weekly, and the Star, as well as in wire stories for Associated Press.  He has been featured on the cover of Country Music USA, and Country Gazette in Holland.

Ronnie McDowell was invited to play a command performance for President George Bush at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in a special salute to troops of Operation Desert Storm.

Ronnie McDowell has always been a generous giver to charitable organizations and is an especially strong supporter of Easter Seals.  The singer has also established his own Annual Benefit Festival in his hometown of Portland, Tennessee, which helps fund that city's D.A.R.E. program.

Ronnie McDowell has been honored by the Tennessee General Assembly with a House Joint Resolution recognizing his many contributions to the community.

Ronnie McDowell was the first country artist to ever create an animated video, which he graphically developed himself by designing toon-type characters of his band and himself for the title cut from his Curb album American Music.

Ronnie McDowell sang 36 songs on the soundtrack Elvis, which was produced by Dick Clark and featured Kurt Russell as the performer.  It was nationally televised in 1979.

Ronnie McDowell was the singing voice for the TV-movie Elvis and the Beauty Queen, with actor Don Johnson playing Presley.

Ronnie McDowell was the singing voice again on the ABC-TV movie Elvis and Me in 1988, which was a movie based on Priscilla Presley's book, and the show starred Dale Midliff as Elvis.

Ronnie McDowell was personally selected by Priscilla Presley to do the music on ABC's 1990 television series about the early years of Elvis' career titled Elvis.

Ronnie McDowell had the honor of being chosen to perform with the Memphis Symphony at Elvis' birthday celebration in January of 1995, when Presley would have turned 60.

Ronnie McDowell was also selected as the singing voice of Elvis, in 1997, for the Showtime TV special Elvis Meets Nixon.

For additional information on Ronnie McDowell including:

	a list of his albums
	how to book an engagement
	Ronnie's concert schedule
	information on how to order one of his art prints
	information on Ronnie's fan clubs

Ronnie has been called Portland's Native Son and our Ambassador to the World.  We are all very proud of Ronnie, his many accomplishments and what he has done for Portland.  Thanks, Ronnie!