Jeanie Finlay’s ode to Jimmy Ellis, who looked like Elvis, sounded like Elvis and didn’t want to be like Elvis until after Presley’s death, tries to make a country and western classic out of a one-hit wonder
Orion was not trying to be just like Elvis. He even released a single called “I’m Not Trying To Be Just Like Elvis.” The problem, inasmuch as it is a problem, is that Jimmy Ellis, an Alabama-born singer, really sounded a lot like Elvis. The likeness was to the point that this natural talent, who was 10 years younger than The King, was unable to secure any significant work in the recording industry. But in 1977, when Elvis Presley died and a wave of Elvis-nostalgia hit, a business opportunity knocked.
Sun Records, the label that first recorded Elvis (and other early rock n’ roll giants), had been purchased by one Shelby Singleton. Let’s be generous and call him “an entrepreneurial sort.” Singleton rereleased some earlier Sun tracks with Jimmy Ellis dubbed in sounding just like Elvis, and labelled it Jerry Lee Lewis “And Friends.” Just as these were hitting big, the first tabloid rumblings about Elvis faking his death were starting to bubble up. A woman named Gail Brewer-Giorgio was readying a novel about an Elvis-like figure who did just that. The book was called Orion and, while who specifically dreamt up what is still up for debate, Ellis soon found himself on the cover of an album called Orion: Reborn. He sounded just like The King and wore a face-obscuring mask. Was this actually Elvis under a new persona?
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