Who Was That Masked Man?

Based on circumstances surrounding the death of Elvis Presley, Gail Brewer-Giorgio wrote a novel about a musical superstar, Orion, who faked his own death to find much-needed peace and privacy. Two years later she would receive a phone call from someone who sounded like the King and claimed to be Orion.

Elvis impersonators are anything but new and they take all forms. "El Vez," the Mexican Elvis, "Schmelvis," the Jewish Elvis, midget Elvises and "The Flying Elvises," who had a role in the Nicolas Cage film "Leaving Las Vegas." Interestingly, Cage and Lisa Marie Presley were recently married. However, I'm not sure if the ceremony was performed by Elvis.

Orion, aka Jimmy Ellis, however, was no ordinary impersonator. There is a much broader story surrounding "The Man Who Would Be King."

Ellis' first big break was when Sun Records, Elvis' original label and then owned by Shelby Singleton, released That's Alright Mama and Blue Moon of Kentucky with no name on it. The assumption was that it was Elvis singing and that Singleton had found some long lost recordings in the Sun vault.

A single with Ellis, listed only as "Friend," overdubbed with Jerry Lee Lewis on Save the Last Dance for Me made it into the Top 20. In trying to settle the controversy over the identity of "Friend", Good Morning America had the voice "scientifically scanned and analyzed." The returned verdict; Elvis Presley.

Wearing trademark latter-day Elvis sequined jumpsuits and sporting a pompadour and long sideburns, Orion also performed wearing a mask.

During some concerts it was reported that after a couple of songs, Orion would leave the stage and be replaced by a different Orion. Near the end of the show, Orion #2 would leave the stage and be replaced by the first one. The speculation was that the second Orion was actually Elvis, who, after lifetime of performing, couldn't give up entertaining cold turkey (of course, presuming that Elvis' death was faked).

Eventually, Ellis would take off the mask and swear to never wear it again. He never escaped the uncanny similarities and even released the single I'm Trying Not to Sound Like Elvis, which followed the claim that it was his natural singing and speaking voice.

Jimmy "Orion" Ellis, "The Man With The Voice Of The King," was killed in 1998 by an armed robber at his pawn shop. He was 53.

The story doesn't end there.

If Orion could release an album called "Some Say He Might Be King Elvis," then it was bound to be that "Some Say He Faked His Death Too" in an attempt to escape the suffocating connection to Elvis similarly to how Elvis is purported to have faked death to escape the imprisonment of stardom.