Durrington-based Jon Stoner AKA Johnny B Memphis has just secured a top ten placing in only his second Elvis Presley tribute competition.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt-Greypont, editor at Sussex Newspapers, and this is exciting.
00:06This is the closest I'm ever going to get to Elvis Presley, speaking to John Stoner
00:10of Durrington. Now, John, you've emerged as an Elvis tribute fairly recently, and you've
00:16just completed your second competition up in Birmingham at the European Elvis Championships.
00:21You did pretty well, top 10. You must have been pleased.
00:25Yeah, very pleased. Top 10 in my second contest, I'll take that, you know. There's always room
00:31for improvement.
00:32But what went first? What went well? What were you pleased with?
00:36Vocally, I thought I sounded, and I've looked back at the footage, I thought I sounded good.
00:41I had my moves there, and I looked good on stage, which is a good thing, and audience
00:46reaction was really good. But, you know, I was really happy.
00:51And you were saying room for improvement. Of course, you're just at the start, but what
00:55is it? Is it a question of experience, more experience?
00:58I think feeling experienced, feeling happy on a stage, especially with a live band as
01:04well, because that's very different to performing with sort of like tracks. And just, yeah,
01:10just studying Elvis, his little, you know, mannerisms, his movements. Not everything
01:15has to be all one pace. You can, you know, slow it down at times if you need to. So,
01:20yeah, just, yeah. But I think that's where that's looking back and critiquing is that's
01:24the best way, isn't it, to set up your game next time around?
01:27And it's also about what Elvis means to you. So what does he mean? Why, you know, it's
01:33not so very far off 50 years since he died, is it? He is still so important to so many
01:38millions of people. How can you explain that?
01:41Yeah, I mean, that's such a great question. He's, well, to me and all Elvis fans, he's
01:46the king. So, you know, he's the American dream, the Rags to Riches story, the
01:53guy that from humble beginnings did so much in such a little time and, you know, sadly
02:00died so young, but left a legacy that, you know, people like myself are trying to
02:07continue. So, yeah.
02:09And yet you were visiting Gracelands at the age of 17, you were saying. Is that what made you the fan or were you the fan beforehand?
02:16I wasn't a fan before. No, I went with a friend in his family. His dad is a big Elvis
02:22fan. And we did the Memphis, you know, we did the tour, we did the Sun Studios, the
02:28early bit. And no, I just I just loved it after that.
02:31And I got a real feeling for it.
02:33So that was the opportunity to start doing the tribute.
02:37So it didn't start straight away.
02:40Oh, well, congratulations.
02:41And top 10 in the second competition is brilliant.
02:43So 2025, you've got a third competition coming up and also hoping to do some more gigs.
02:49Yeah, trying to get some some good gigs in my I've had a lot of unfortunately, the way
02:56the pubs and the work is at the moment, it's a little bit quiet with just I think, you
03:05know, people after Christmas, I suppose, are holding on to their money and stuff like that.
03:08And, you know, financially, I think pubs and that kind of entertainment industry is
03:13feeling it a little bit, aren't they?
03:14So and I've had so I've lost a few venues and a few sort of like contacts and that.
03:21But I'm hoping to do some of my own, my own, my own gigs, you know, hiring people,
03:27looking back at it.
03:29Yeah. And, you know, try and look for some band members maybe now.
03:32And and yeah, if I could do a little mini tour across the South of England, I'd be happy
03:38to do that. That would be fantastic.
03:39Well, congratulations on the competition.
03:41Good to speak to you. Thank you.
03:43Thank you. Thank you.