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Long live Elvis the King

The King comes alive as Albert Jossey Rego belts out Elvis Presley numbers

ROCKING TIMES Jossey: `The Shadows of Elvis concert will be a new beginning'

Long time after the King's exit to the great gig in the sky in 1977, America celebrates his memory. The king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis the pelvis Presley, can never die.

Haven't we read of all those Elvis sightings apart from lookalike contests and conventions in his native Graceland and other parts of the world?

Mangalore is also exception to the Elvis mania. Take a walk down the lanes and bylanes of our fair city and you are sure to hear faint strains of "Love me Tender" or "Heartbreak Hotel."

While lesser mortals turn to our Discman or MP3 player to hear the King croon, there are some like Albert Jossey Rego, who redefines the diehard fan. Come May 20, and the globetrotting Jossey is going put on his blue suede shoes to belt out Elvis numbers like there is no tomorrow. Jossey describes music as the nectar of life. "Let us have music in plenty today, rather than when we can hear no more," he says. On his choice of Elvis, he says: "Elvis is the undisputed king of rock 'n' roll and no other musician in the world apart from Jim Reeves, The Beatles and Carpenters to certain extent exist alongside. Elvis had a style of his own which become a cult." There is the story of The Beatles commenting on Elvis's gyrations rather than his music and how the King had the last laugh knocking The Beatles from the top spot with his "Jailhouse Rock". Jossy remembers that Elvis's musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, gospel music heard in church and at all-night gospel sings he attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on the historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, he began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation. Jossey says: "The Shadows of Elvis concert on May 20 would be a new beginning. Every Elvis fan will be there and those who don't make it for the concert will be sorry."

Jossy, who is now 66, has a never-say-die attitude towards life. His daughter, Susan, who was the first Asian resident band singer in Kuwait's Hilton, sings with the group Hi-Frequency in Mangalore.

He concert is on May 20 at 7 p.m. at the St. Aloysius School auditorium.

M.R.

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