Chosen from among 200 000 Elvis

Photo courtesy
Jean-Philippe Carpentier said to be one of the only around the world to be able to dance on the tip of the feet like Elvis.

Geneviève Quessy

Saturday, October 7, 2017 08:00

UPDATE
Saturday, October 7, 2017 08:00

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A Quebec 28-year-old was chosen from among 200 000 applicants to participate in the Festival, Ocean City, Maryland in order to impersonate the young Elvis Presley in the 1950s.

Jean-Philippe Carpentier, 28 years old, remembers the day he discovered the King. “I was 4 years old. I heard him singing Jailhouse Rock on tv and I asked my parents who it was. “

A few years later, while Elvis was on all the screens on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death, the little Jean-Philippe, at the young age of 8 years old, has made his decision : his job would be to impersonate the famous singer.

“I would not even imagined that I could be selected in a contest world-class, and yet this is what happens to me. It is a culmination, ” said the young man of Repentigny.

It is rumored to have been noticed by a jury during its participation at the Elvis Festival in Lake George this summer, where fans pointed to the 40th anniversary of the death of the King. “They invited me, all expenses paid, to come and represent Quebec at the Ocean City Elvis Festival, which will take place from 17 to 19 October. It is a huge privilege. “

Only 60 personnificateurs about 200 000 have been selected.

If he wins the contest in its category, Jean-Philippe Carpentier could win 1500 $ in us currency and the privilege of participating in the Ultimate Contest in Memphis, in 2018. “The judges have told me that I was one of the only people in the world dancing on the tip of the feet like Elvis,” he says.

Details

Carpentier does not skimp on the details to succeed in touching its audience. This is the Elvis of the 1950s, young and fiery, he embodies on stage. Advised by designers specialized, he does make his costume as well as her jewelry, stores in Memphis, where obtained the King himself.

Tear off the shirt

According to him, the passion of the fans for their idol is far from falter with time. “I was very surprised the first time someone has asked me for an autograph. The personnificateurs Elvis are adulated in the United States, almost as much as he was himself. There are some that are tear off their shirts ! “

Very grateful to the public which enables him to live from his art for about six years now, Jean-Philippe Carpentier walks through Quebec with a show inspired by the last that Elvis gave before his departure for the war in the 1950s.