 When
Sunday, August 16 arrives this year,
Elvis Presley fans around the
world will pause to mark the 38 years
that have passed since the King died. As
you know, singer-songwriter Ronnie
McDowell is one of the biggest Elvis fans
of all time. He can trace much of his
success to his 1977 blockbuster,
“The King is Gone,” which
catapulted Ronnie into the spotlight.
Early in his career, Ronnie was already a
successful songwriter scoring hits for
Porter Waggoner, Webb Pierce, Faron
Young, Eddy Arnold, Tanya Tucker, Chet
Atkins, George Jones and many others. He
often describes that afternoon as when he
wrote his own life story. With the huge
reaction and requests made to radio
stations from Elvis fans, Ronnie received
a phone call from Dick Clark and the next
day performed on American Bandstand.
Since that day, multi-million copies of
“The King is Gone” have been
sold.
Ronnie’s Elvis connection
doesn’t stop there. When Dick Clark
produced a television movie featuring a  young Kurt Russell as Elvis
Presley, Clark turned to Ronnie to record
36 songs for the movie’s extensive
soundtrack. He would reprise his turn as
the voice of the King when Elvis’s
wife, Priscilla, tapped him to sing for
the television movie “Elvis and
Me.” Over the years, Ronnie’s
vocals would be showcased on the ABC-TV
series about the early years of
Elvis’ career titled simply
“Elvis,” as well as the 1997
Showtime special “Elvis Meets
Nixon.” Today, Ronnie often features
Elvis Presley’s original sidemen
Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana, along with
Millie Kirkham and The Jordanaires when
he stages tributes to Elvis
Presley’s music.
To date, one of Ronnie McDowell’s
most popular and best-selling prints is
his painting titled “Reflection of a
King.” The life-like image is of
Elvis as a young boy looking into a
mirror and envisioning Elvis the
super-star. |
