Dean Vegas is an Elvis tribute artist and politician. He has performed around the world as

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexuall ...

. He has been referred to as the top Elvis Presley impersonator in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Background

Vegas is the most prominent Elvis impersonator in Australia. In 2000 he was crowned the no 1 Elvis tribute artist in the world. In the past he has performed at the New Zealand version of the

Parkes Elvis Festival The Parkes Elvis Festival is an Australian annual event celebrating the music and the legend of Elvis Presley held on the second weekend in January in the New South Wales regional town of Parkes. The first festival in 1992 was a one-night perf ...

. He has also performed in Elvis Presley's birthplace

Tupelo Tupelo commonly refers to: * Tupelo (tree), a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves * Tupelo, Mississippi, the county seat and the largest city of Lee County, Mississippi Tupelo may also refer to: Places * Tupelo, Arka ...

. As a mayoral candidate, he has run for the position three times. The first was in 2004 and the second in 2008. When Vegas was a boy, aged around 12 he saw Elvis Presley on television which made an impression on him. On his 16th birthday, he got a box set of

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

cassettes that contained some Elvis songs which he loved. While at school, Vegas got the part of Conrad Birdie in the school play production musical ''

Bye Bye Birdie ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart. Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The play's book was influenced by El ...

''. This was Vegas's first time on stage playing a role. In the play, he sang "

Rubberneckin' "Rubberneckin'" is a song performed by Elvis Presley, which was recorded at American Sound Studio. It was used in the film '' Change of Habit'' and subsequently issued as the B-side of " Don't Cry Daddy" (RCA single 47–9768) in conjunction with ...

Career

He started his Elvis tribute career around 1995. Along the way, he has performed with

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vo ...

, who had provided backup on Presley's recordings. He has performed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in Memphis and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. In the East and Asia, he has performed in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Other countries and places include

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

2000 - 2010

In July 2006, Vegas was appearing at the Collingwood Elvis Festival in Canada. He was now a favorite at the festival since being grand champion in 2000. In 2007, Vegas was invited to play in Tupelo, the place where Elvis was born. While there, the Mayor handed him the key to the city. While there he received a guitar as a gift from the hardware store where Presley got his first one. After that he performed with the

Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations are an American R&B girl group from Newark, New Jersey, founded by Cissy Houston who are mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists but who are also a Grammy-nominat ...

, the female group that provided backing vocals for Presley during the 1970s. On 16 August 2007, which was the 30th anniversary of Presley's death, Vegas was interviewed by Paula Kruger for The World Today program on ABC Radio. Among the other questions asked, he was asked what he thought about Lisa Marie's vocals being added to the original recording of "

In the Ghetto "In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a 1969 song written by Mac Davis and recorded by Elvis Presley. It was a major hit released in 1969 as a part of Presley's comeback album, ''From Elvis in Memphis'', and was also relea ...

", which was to be released to mark the 30th year following Presley's passing. His answer was that he thought the idea was great and that she should have done it years ago.

2010 onwards

In January 2011, he appeared at the Elvis Festival in

Parkes, New South Wales Parkes is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the main settlement in the local government in Australia, local government area of Parkes Shire. Parkes had a population of 9,83 ...

. October 2011 was Vegas's first time performing in

. He played at the Paradise Hotel there accompanied by two local dancing girls. Later that week he was set to perform at the Leagues Club there backed by islander Trent Christian and his band. The speculation by the reporter Jemima was correct about the visit to the island not being his last, Vegas was back there in 2015 as part of the Legends of Rock, which featured Vegas as Elvis, Dennis Knight as

Johnny O'Keefe John Michael O'Keefe (19 January 1935 – 6 October 1978) was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the early 1950s. A pioneer of Rock music in Australia, his hits include " Wild One" (1958), " Shout!" and "She's My Baby". O ...

and Chris Knight as

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

. 2012 saw Vegas, who is a fan favorite, back at the Collingwood Elvis Festival. At that time had been coming on various occasions for about ten years. Around September 2013, Vegas was on stage at the Logan Entertainment Centre for the 2013 Logan Mayoress' Annual Gala Dinner and Show Fundraiser, hosted by Logan Mayor, Pam Parker. The event which attracted 480 guests raised $70,000. In early 2014, he appeared at the Australia's international tattoo festival, SURFn'ink. He played a show at 6 Pm which was followed by rocker

Angry Anderson Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson (born 5 August 1947) is an Australian rock singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. He has been the lead vocalist and the longest-tenured remaining member of the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 ...

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian billionaire businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, t ...

hired Vegas in June 2014 to entertain guests at Coolum Resort in Queensland's Sunshine Coast. In July 2014, Vegas was on

, hosting the Norfolk Island Rock'n'Roll Festival which ran from the 19th to the 26th of that month. In September 2014, at the Victor Harbor Rock 'n' Roll Festival, Vegas was the feature performer for that year. The event, which is held in South Australia runs from the 20th to the 21st of that month. In June 2015, along with

Dennis Knight Dennis Knight (born December 26, 1968) is an American chef and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling between 1992 and 1994 under the ring name Tex Slazenger and with the World Wrestl ...

, and Kris Knight, he headlined the Elvis and Friends show. From 19 June 2015 – 21 June 2015, they appeared at the Hopgood Theatre, Chaffey Theatre, and Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. In early 2016, he was part of the Ultimate Vegas Show in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Marriage celebrant

In 2013, he performed a marriage ceremony for

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

couple Kartekka and Jay Stathamoliver. In 2014, Vegas appeared on the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

program, ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'', hosted by David Koch and

Samantha Armytage Samantha Armytage (born 4 September 1976) is an Australian journalist and television presenter. She was previously co-host of the Seven Network's breakfast television program ''Sunrise (Australian TV program), Sunrise'' from 2013 to 2021 alon ...

. Having entered and won a competition by Queensland's Breeze FM, Dianne Crooks and her husband Bill were part of a ceremony with other couples to be married by Vegas. The event was covered by Channel 7 as well as a follow up on the 14th of July, which featured Dianne and Vegas. Also in early 2016,

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is a national employer's organisation representing pharmacy owners in Australia. Еstablished in 1927 as the Federated Pharmaceutical Services Guild of Australia, it is registered under the Fair Work Act 2009 ...

were looking for pharmacy couples to get married by Vegas at the March APP 2016 conference.

Discography

Film

Politics

In November 2011, he was running for mayor of Queensland's Gold Coast. Joe Esposito, the former manager of Elvis Presley said that the Gold Coast needed an Elvis as its mayor. He was one of seven candidates in running for the March 2012 election. In the past, he has endorsed mining magnate and politician

.''Quarterly Essay 56: Clivosaurus: The politics of Clive Palmer'' By Guy Rundl
Clivosaurus: The politics of Clive Palmer
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vegas, Dean Living people People from the Gold Coast, Queensland Elvis impersonators Australian pop singers Musicians from Queensland Musicians from the Gold Coast, Queensland Australian rock singers 20th-century Australian male singers 21st-century Australian male singers Australian male film actors Male actors from the Gold Coast, Queensland Year of birth missing (living people)