Elvis Is Alive in Tupelo, MS

I don’t make a habit of taking strangers to my hotel room. But when Bill J. Brooks arrived in Tupelo, Mississippi, in street clothes, he needed a place to change. So, I made an exception and let him into my room to transform himself into the “King of Rock and Roll.”

Brooks, a professional entertainer who impersonates Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Conway Twitty and many other music legends, drove in from his home in Mantachie, Mississippi. When he made his way back down to the lobby to meet me, he was wearing his most expensive hand-tailored Elvis suit, complete with red scarf, sunglasses and guitar. From that point on, heads were turning as we made our way around downtown shooting photos for Images Tupelo magazine. After all, Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis and I needed to find a way to illustrate that story in a different way than in previous years.

We started in front of several iconic downtown locations along Main Street. I don’t think I’ve stopped so much traffic during a photo shoot since I shot a swimsuit fashion page in the middle of a busy intersection during lunch hour years ago. People were screaming, honking their horns, making song requests and enjoying the moment. Bill is used to this sort of thing, but he still gets a kick out of it.

In the end, I decided to take a chance and use my best light to photograph him in front of an old neon Tupelo sign in the middle of Main Street. The sign had not lit up the entire week, but for some strange reason I thought it might light up on this night. We were about to pack it in for the night, and in a strange twist of fate, the light came on! I never get this lucky. I’d have to say this is probably one of my favorite portraits to date.

Photo by Jeff Adkins. See more of Jeff’s photos.