Sorry Avi, I got here too late, but it looks like you figured it out. I would have had a hard time with it too.
Can I toss another suggestion out here? Hubby just hollered in from the other room "Roddy McDowell"----and that was an English actor. I seem to recall the singer's name (that I was trying to think of) HAD sounded like another famous name. Could it be Rodney McDowell, or something close to that?
LOL, try RONNIE McDowell. And Talk about 7 degrees of seperation. The following freaks me out a bit.
When Elvis died, Ronnie, at the time was a sign painter and not long out of the Navy, wrote a song called The King Is Gone. The timing of the song, in the midst of the emotional loss so many felt with E's death, and the uncanny voice Ronnie possesses, the song became an instant hit and rocketed Ronnie McDowell from a joe-schmo sign painter to a country music star. Damn the luck, eh? He has also been the singing voice of Elvis for three major movies about the King and the short lived TV series, Elvis, the Early Years. He was Kurt Russell's singing voice in ELVIS, The Movie with Kurt playing the title role. Russell's father, Bing, played Elvis' dad and Season Hubly played Pricilla and later married Kurt. Bing Russell co-starred in Blue Hawaii, I think, as Elvis' character's dad and Kurt Russell's first feature film was It Happened At The World's Fair in which he played the little boy who Elvis pays 5 dollars to to kick him in the shin to get a girl's sympathy. Russell was awsome as Elvis and if you haven't seen his portrayal of Elvis, you should go rent the movie.
The first concert my parents ever took me to was a Charlie Prided concert, at the San Diego Sports Arena, back in the early 70's. I was like, 5, and I loved Charlie Pride. The opening act was Sonny James.
Sitting next to me was a young Navy boy with some of his friends. The young handsome southern man talked to me with such kindness and enthusiasm, I never forgot him. I remember how he told me how great it was to see such a young boy at the concert who had a love for music, especially Charlie Pride. My mom and dad were proud that I was lavishing so much attention from those seated next to us. This young Navy man sand every song Charlie sang, as he sang it, word for word, note for note . . . I knew all the songs too and I sang along with him. I had a ball.
After the concert, he said goodbye and shook my little hand and I watched him as he walked away with his buddies.
Would you care to take a guess at who that young Navy man was? Yup, it was Ronnie McDowell.
He has been my role model and idle for quite sometime, and when I heard him sing The King Is Gone on the radio only a week or so after Elvis died, I was floored. I was in Buena Vista Georgia a few years ago and I caught his show. What a class act that man is! He met with me, I told him the story, he remembered better than I, even my name.
He is not Elvis, but his voice is the closest you will ever get.
Corvin