Tim Hughes talks to the singer crowned best Presley impersonator on the planet

It’s not easy being The King. Just ask Stephen Kabakos. Yet the Canadian wears his alter ego with the pride and respect you would expect from the world’s greatest Elvis impersonator.

Raised in suburban Toronto, Stephen’s background couldn’t be more different to that of his hero. But a childhood spent listening to his mother’s records inspired him to also pursue a career singing rock & roll in a white jumpsuit and flares.

“Elvis got to me,” he says. “His songs were playing all the time in the background and his movies were on constantly. You could say I grew up with him.

“I’d watch the movies and sing along to Hound Dog, Teddy Bear and Don’t Be Cruel, and became a fan in my own right. It’s the strangest thing. I didn’t wake up one day and think ‘I’m going to go about making a career out of playing Elvis songs’; I fell into it.”

I caught up with Stephen at Gatwick Airport. And unlike his idol’s only public arrival in the UK (a brief stopover at Prestwick in 1960), he is far from being mobbed. But it’s when he slips into that rhinestone-studded suit and steps onstage that the magic happens.

“I’ve been flattered with the compliment of people saying they never had the opportunity to see Elvis on stage but that, because of my portrayal, they feel they got to experience it,” he says.

“With this hair and these sideburns I do get a lot of people looking at me. When I’m off stage I’m myself, but when I’m on stage I am like any good actor — I become my character.”

Despite his talents as singer, Stephen has never performed under his name. “I have always been an Elvis tribute artist,” he says. It is something I’ve been working at for 16 years and have toured the world with it.”

It has taken him from India and China to The King’s hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, where he claimed the crown of Elvis World Champion in the world’s premier Presley showdown. “That’s like winning the Elvis Olympics,” he says. “People from all over the world come to Memphis to take part in that”.

And it’s not just the look — complete with quiff and lip curl — he also sounds uncannily like his hero, captur-ing the mannerisms and vocal dexterity of the Tupelo boy made good.

For Stephen, accuracy is every-thing, whether covering Elvis’s early Sun Studio years, through to his time in the army, his film career, the iconic '68 Comeback or Vegas shows. “I make sure I do everything the proper way,” says the singer, who, when I ask his age, insists he is “30 forever”.

“The secret is to study the craft. My little motto is that if Elvis didn’t do it, I don’t do it. If he didn’t shake his hips in a particular way, I shouldn’t do it. I do whatever he did; it’s about attention to detail.”

And he has been able to learn from the best, performing with some of the artists who also played with Elvis, including the star’s backing bands The Jordanaires and The Sweet Inspirations.

“It was good to work with his inner circle of musicians,” he says. “It’s great to feel the backbeat of rock & roll behind you.”

Tonight and tomorrow Stephen plays three sets at the New Theatre which promise to be a treat for fans of rock & roll. Calling itself Three Steps to Heaven, the show will see Steve as Elvis performing alongside Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly — or, at least, fellow impersonators. The show is billed as the concert they sadly never gave but which would have been the biggest ever had fate not intervened (all three men were cruelly taken too early: Holly in ‘59, aged 22; Presley in ‘77, aged 42; and Orbison in ‘88, aged 52).

The rock & roll fest culminates on Saturday with Winter Dance Party, recreating Buddy Holly’s last concert in 1959, accompanied by The Big Bopper, Dion and the Belmonts and Ritchie Valens.

“For these particular shows, I’ll be performing Elvis in two stages of his career: the ‘50s and in ‘69,” says Steve. “I like both these times.

“In the ’50s, Elvis was a rocking untamed being. He was uncontrollable. “Then in the ‘60s he entered his movie career and his music moved from rock & roll to pop. He became a bandleader, then in ‘68, with the Comeback Special, he showed what he was still capable of doing. He hit his stride again and reclaimed his reputation as a rock & roller. He made a huge mark on anyone who saw him.”

So, I can’t resist asking: Is there much competition in the world of Elvis impersonators... sorry, “tribute artists?”

“We all work in different ways,” Stephen says, diplomatically.

“We are all The King’s men, but some do a little bit more with their careers than others. “I’m fortunate to be able to perform at a professional level, but everybody who puts on a jumpsuit or gold lame jacket is doing it out of love for Elvis.

And why does that white boy from the Deep South, who made a career out of singing what was, until then, black music, still hold such a hold on music-lovers’ affections?

“Because he played music like it had never been done before, and like it has never been done since,” says Stephen. “He was the pioneer of rock & roll music.

“Every woman wanted Elvis Presley and every man wanted to be Elvis Presley, yet he was also humble, polite and always had time for his fans.

“And because he was taken a little too soon, that only adds to the mystique.”

Where & when
Three Steps to Heaven
New Theatre, Oxford
7.30pm tonight and 5.30pm and 8.30pm tomorrow
Tickets £28.90 from atgtickets.com