“I think after we went for three rides down to my grandparents in Amherst, I knew all the words off by heart,” said Dunn, who was named grand champion winner of the World's Largest Elvis Festival in Collingwood, Ontario last July.
Dunn is performing Elvis Greatest Hits at Th’YARC on May 1 at 8 p.m. with his band, the Cadillac Kings.
It was common for Dunn to be called Elvis and teased as a youth. Years later while in Las Vegas on vacation people came up to him asking where his show was.
“I had like blond hair, no sideburns,” he laughed.
It’s been estimated there are over 35,000 Elvis impersonators. Throwing himself completely into the role 12 years ago has paid off for Dunn.
After winning the grand championship last year, bookings have taken off.
“Things were going well before that, but since then things have just been amazing,” said the Moncton, native, who will be playing in Toronto later this year as well as England.
Dunn used to work in sales and handles all of his self-promotion and booking himself. He has a Southwest Nova connection through his mother, Marilyn Pierce, who is originally from Shelburne.
I get to make a living making people happy. It blows my mind how much people love Elvis. - Thane Dunn, grand champion winner of the World's Largest Elvis Festival in Collingwood, Ontario last July.
He says he’s tried to take the joke out of impersonating the famous rock and roll king. Dunn’s Elvis hair is real, his sideburns are real, even his costumes (eight) are sewn by the same tailor that made them for Elvis in 1972. Some of them have the same belt embellishments that Elvis wore.
Even rehearsing isn’t a chore for Dunn.
“Elvis is the only singer that I can stand to listen to all the time – 24 hours a day,” he said.
“I get to make a living making people happy. It blows my mind how much people love Elvis,” he said.
Dunn focuses on the period of Elvis’s career when he was on top of his game as well as the ’68 Comeback Special, Elvis on Tour 1972 and the Aloha from Hawaii Satellite Telecast. Tickets to Thane Dunn and the Cadillac Kings are $33.50 for general public and $32.50 for members.
