Late-life Elvis tribute artist finally living childhood dreams

ASHEBORO — Rick Brooks can blame his mother for turning him into an Elvis fanatic.

In fact, Brooks is more than just a fan. He’s an Elvis tribute artist, or ETA. 

He’ll be performing at the Sunset Theatre with the Elvis Christmas Show on Saturday, Nov. 9. with doors opening at 6 p.m. He’ll even have Patsy Cline as an opening act, the Sweet Neapolitans Plus One as backup singers and the Steam Roller Band.

So how did Brooks, now 65, let his mother inspire his interest in the King of Rock ’n’ Roll?

“As a boy of 8 or 9, my mother ordered RCA 99-cent albums from TV Guide,” he said. “I checked (off a list of) albums for various groups,” such as Led Zeppelin and others from the late 1960s.

When the package came to their home, Brooks excitedly opened it and found that his mother had changed the order form and received albums by Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and some guy named Elvis Presley.

“I said, ‘Mom, why’d you do this?’ ” Brooks recalled. “I was going to order first. You had to wait 90 days to order again.”

But then he put the albums on their stereo record player and listened. “Elvis was the coolest to me. I learned his music, how to sing like him. I loved his fast songs, all those songs from the ’50s to the ’70s.”

Brooks even began dressing like Elvis, combing his hair like the King and taking on the way he talked. But then he got into high school.

“It was not very cool as a teen,” Brooks said of his Elvis impersonations. “I put Elvis on the back burner. I was kidded at school for my long black hair and because I sounded like him. I tried hard not to talk that way.”

Then in 1980 when Brooks was attending Lee University in Cleveland, TN, the school held a Sadie Hawkins Day in which students dressed up as characters and put together skits.

“A friend squealed on me and said, ‘This man can do Elvis.’ So I got together with some musicians and did three songs — ‘That’s Alright Mama,’ ‘Hound Dog’ and ‘Love Me Tender.’ Everybody went wild. They loved it.”

After the performance, Jim the pianist said to Brooks, “Let’s ditch college and go to Vegas.”

Instead, Brooks stayed until graduation, went into the ministry and started his own construction business. He got married and raised three children. After 33 years, his first wife divorced him but he later remarried and inherited another four grown children, and together the couple has 17 grandchildren.

Brooks stayed busy with his ministry and his business. Then in 2015 he was riding with a friend who owns an event center near Winston-Salem, where Brooks grew up.

“He said, ‘I need an opening act. Any ideas?’ ” Brooks said. “I thought about Sadie Hawkins Day and said, ‘I can do Elvis.’ He said, ‘Rick, you gotta do it.’

“So I found some guys for a band and did the event. The rest is history.”

Brooks and his band began doing shows here and there, but particularly at the Midway Music Hall near Winston-Salem. He’s even entered Elvis competitions, including one in Lexington in which he came in third behind two others who had won statewide competitions. “I just had fun,” he said. He’s also done competitions in other parts of North Carolina and in Florida. He said he would like to enter a competition held at Dollywood in Gatlinburg, TN.

Brooks, who now lives in Sophia, has perfected his show, bringing in the Steam Roller Band and the Sweet Neapolitans Plus One. The show uses lights and sound to “try to do it as close to Elvis like he would do it.”

That includes the white jumpsuit and cape and giving away scarves to women next to the stage. Brooks said he watches other Elvis tribute artists, some of whom put their own spin on the music. He believes in doing everything the way Elvis did, to be true to his memory.

“The show is high energy, very much the atmosphere in Vegas when Elvis did his show,” said Brooks, who strives to impersonate Elvis’ “voice, antics, expressions, everything he did. It’s family oriented. We keep it fun and exciting.

“It’s an opportunity for people to let their hair down and forget the problems of the day,” he said. “It’s some of the best music, a chance to enjoy the best entertainer in the world. No one can hold a candle to Elvis.

“The backup vocalists are great,” he said, giving kudos to Carol Rousseau, who portrays Patsy Cline. He said she will open the show with three or four songs before Elvis comes on stage.

Brooks said, just as Elvis, he’ll start with “CC Rider,” move on to “Burning Love” and include some of the Christmas music such as “Blue Christmas.”

Some find it amusing that a minister does Elvis tribute shows as a sideline. Brooks said a fellow pastor came up to him one day and said, “I can’t believe you play Elvis.”

Brooks folded his arms across his chest, looked the man in the eye and said, “I can’t believe you play golf.” Brooks said he also plays golf but some of the things he sees and hears on the golf course have made him consider giving up the sport.

“You don’t judge others unless you walk in their shoes,” Brooks said. He defended Elvis, whose life wasn’t perfect, saying, “Elvis was a regular guy, just like us. He did things he wasn’t proud of but he gave everything away to others. 

“His favorite thing was to get with his friends at the end of the day and sing gospel songs into the wee hours,” Brooks said, implying that Elvis hadn’t forgotten his religious upbringing.

In fact, Brooks plans to end his show with a couple of gospel tunes with his backup singers.

Tickets to the Elvis Christmas Show are available at Brightside Gallery, 170 Worth St., Asheboro. You can also send an email to brightsidegallery@gmail.com or call 336-736-8714. VIP seating is $20 and general admission is $10.