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| Ultimate Elvis Winner |
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Bill Cherry is a St.Louis-based, award winning ETA who has entertained countless Elvis fans, young & young at heart. Competing and performing since 1989, he was a finalist during Elvis week in Memphis for four consecutive years and won The Ultimate Elvis Competition in 2009.
Born into a musical family, Bill was exposed to Elvis at an early age by his parents. He has deep gospel roots with fond memories of playing guitar and singing gospel songs with his father. Some of their favorites were "You'll Never Walk Alone," "Peace In The Valley" and "How Great Thou Art".
Bill feels that performing a tribute to the greatest entertainer the world has ever known is a dream come true. Having studied Elvis for many years, he has the voice, moves and mannerisms. Those who have seen Bill say he truly is the closest to the King you can get !
For the car buffs among us, Bill owns and drives a 1976 Stutz Blackhawk! If you don't recognize the name, this is the fiber glass body car designed by Italian designer "Ghia" and put into production on a full-sized GM chassis (Pontiac's Gran Prix) coupled with a 455 big block motor by a revived version of the Stutz Motor Car Company. This 5000 lb car could accelerate to 60 mph in 8.4 seconds with a 130 mph top speed. Fuel economy was just 8 miles per gallon. You guessed it, Elvis had one, in fact it was the first production unit. He enjoyed that car so much that he bought 4 more of them. It was classified a "luxury sports car" and the prototype unit cost in excess of $300,000 to produce. They were built from 1970 until 1987 and debuted at the Waldorf Astoria in 1970. Other owners of this car included Sammy Davis Jr., Evel Knievel, Robert Goulet, Larry Holmes, Willy Nelson, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lucille Ball, Wilson Pickett, Billy Joel, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Al Pacino, Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton.
Regarding his association with 'The Busters,' Bill says, "I didn't know what to expect when this group was assembled. I drove up to the place for the mutual audition and there was all this music coming out of the building. When I walked in, there was only Wes, John and Vern. Naturally I was initially skeptical, but I could tell that these guys possessed a ton of musical talent. We got through the audition process together, but there was this stigma of 3 players covering about 20 different parts. We decided to give the 3-piece thing a try and after the first rehearsal, I was sold. There were horn parts coming out of the guitar amp, background vocals (including deep bass and female parts) that sounded just right. Vern would jump over behind a keyboard when a piano part was dominant. It was truly amazing what transpired in that first session together. This group has everything covered and they are 'for real' as there is no sequencing of music happening either. Also, to put it mildly, this band is an absolute hoot to be around!!!! The only thing they take seriously is the music. And it's all business when it comes to The Busters' and the subject of music."
Now something we did not realize about Bill in our early association with him was his true artistic ability. He apparently enjoys drawing pictures and is really quite talented at it. One day we were rehearsing with Eddie Falcon at the Buster Dawg House when Bill came over. Now in the back of the place is a dry eraser board and while we were working with Eddie, we noticed Bill over at the board apparently doodling. Now we knew something was up. Bill does not talk much about this talent, but we noticed at a concert with him, that someone brought a painting that Bill did of Elvis when he was only 14 years old. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was not a caricature in any way shape or form. It was one of the most true likenesses you wil ever see of Elvis Presley outside of an actual photograph. Well Bill drew a picture of Elvis on the dry erase board that simply amazed everyone. It is incredible and we took the liberty of taking a picture of it and posting it here. We hope you enjoy it half as much as we in the band did of this picture of Elvis that Bill did for us at the Dawg House.
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| Rehearsal in the early days with The Busters |
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In August of 2009, Bill won the Ultimate ELVIS competition in Memphis. He is currently touring the US full-time portraying the King of Rock & Roll. We had a lot of fun working with Bill and wish him continued success in his new occupation.