There's an interview on You Tube that goes with this performance. In it PJ Proby says Elvis was a poser and Parker's product. He says Elvis wasn't doing anything different from him but was just lucky. He used knowing Elvis to get this personal appearance and plug his own CD and then trashed him! PJ Proby doesn't sound like a nice guy to me.

That does surprise me , maybe you are right , but in later life he seemed to be more reserved , Anyone that calls Elvis is not nice I agree

jo howes I believe the focus of criticism is Colonel Parker and Elvis's management not the guy himself. I've never heard Proby say anything but good things about Elvis in dozens of TV and radio interviews over the years. What he doesn't like though is when people call him the 'King' and make him into something 'GOD' like - to Jim he was another artiste, a colleague and not someone to put on a pedestal. I like Elvis but I believe that PJ Proby could out sing him and beat him up in the charts on the right song... 'Hold Me' and 'Maria' are good examples and I don't believe Elvis could have done anything with either of these popular songs. Proby is acutely aware of this fact so why should he bend before the 'King'? Proby feels he was just as good a singer.... and he didn't let himself go and drive headlong into a premature death like so many 60's stars. Listen to the music and interviews and judge for yourself - he has been called a liar and a mimic all his career by the English press and it all goes back to the 60's feud when they stitched him up and had him deported... because he was an American outsider threatening Tom Jones and the Beatles record sales. He has every reason to be bitter about the premature end to his career but he doesn't express this and has said he adores England and has spent most of his life here working the clubs and theatres in the intervening years. He is a living, iconic personality of past times and should be celebrated for that and the impact he had in the UK. I have met him maybe half a dozen times and he has always been a gentleman - I am not a fan boy (it was my dad who followed him) just expressing my experience and trying to offer some balance. Thanks to the original poster for the video upload.

When Elvis made movies PJ was called in to record the movie songs as Demos . He also played drums for Elvis for that time

Amazing voice!

juliet derr

P.J did a lot of demo tapes for Elvis so maybe Elvis liked his style of singing and copied him...

Don, can I call you Don? I think you are wrong to criticise someone with a 50 year + career in music when you were not there in the studio with the production team - you don't actually know what was going on do you?. Proby did work with Elvis - I have heard the demo recordings he made in advance of Elvis cutting the same tracks and whilst this seems an odd thing to do now it was common studio practice in the 60's to gauge a production before pulling the significant artiste in. His recollections about playing touch football with Elvis's band, visiting his house and being sent to the kitchen because no drink was allowed, and his half sisters' dating of Elvis have all been looked at and discussed before. No one has ever popped up and said its untrue and he has toured with Elvis's band in the years since - why would they do this if he was fabricating stories about them in the press? He has never said Elvis was his best friend or that they spent a lot of time together - rather that they grew up with a similar background, moved in the same circles and sang the same music for a period of time. The reason he is miming is down to television production and TV AM - I worked in TV, this is a short order morning show and they don't like live singers - takes too long to set up and get the sound right especially if you have someone who can holler like Proby - they mostly insist on pre-recordings unless it's a specific music event show like Later with Jools Holland. They wont post process the audio, just balance the volume - the echo will have been on the original recording (i.e. already there and yes it's too high - I think we all agree). If you understood Proby at all, you would know he prefers to sing live and does so at every opportunity - he is old school and can actually project his voice and sing in tune without any music. Gosh! In terms of the choice of Proby for the tribute I guess you know a lot more than the 'paid' researchers who made this choice rather than the standard (and frankly easier) route of phoning up ITB or ICMTalent for known Elvis impersonators. Again, if you knew more about Proby and his career, the reasons for a national TV programme tracking him down would be plainly obvious, but then I think we can see now that you don't have a clue what you are talking about. Have a nice day.

Spartanm333 You're an expert on both Elvis and PJ Proby? You must get around a lot to know all about what went on in both Texas and Hollywood in the fifties and sixties, and also about British TV production in 2002. Funny thing though, PJ Proby tells his Elvis stories in the UK but not in the U.S. Perhaps it's because his timeline is all wrong and Americans would spot it right away. He has been laughed at on a Houston forum in recent years for his outlandish descriptions of the neighborhoods, streets, night spots and retail establishments there in the fifties. His half sister has never backed up his story that she ever dated Elvis, but she has done interviews about Tommy Sands, who was her steady boyfriend. Just when did PJ Proby tour with Elvis' band and which band are you talking about? Elvis' original band was the Blue Moon Boys and PJ Proby has never performed with them. They are conspicuously omitted from his stories about Elvis in Houston even though they would have been there if Elvis was. I guess you didn't know about that. Exactly how many recordings have you listened to that have been AUTHENTICATED as DEMOS by PJ Proby for Elvis that were subsequently recorded by Elvis? What are the song titles? There's no doubt that Proby worked as a demo singer, but so have hundreds of other singers and songwriters. An interesting fact is that PJ Proby has recorded numerous covers of songs previously recorded by Elvis.

As some who has not only been in his company while he sang, but no's his voice range this is PJ's real voice.