There are at least three artists called Jimmy Ellis: the rock'n'roll singer and Elvis impersonator (aka Orion); the blues and soul singer (aka Jimmy Preacher Ellis) and Jimmy Ellis the jazz saxophonist from Chicago. 1) Jimmy Ellis was born in 1945 in Orville, Alabama. His natural voice was very similar to the voice of Elvis Presley, and he used his voice in a masked stage character called Orion, taken from a novel of Gail Brewer-Giorgio based on a famous singer who fakes his own death. Jimmy Ellis began recording in 1964 for the Dradco label. ...show more

There are at least three artists called Jimmy Ellis: the rock'n'roll singer and Elvis impersonator (aka Orion); the blues and soul singer (aka Jimmy Preacher Ellis) and Jimmy Ellis the jazz saxophonist from Chicago. 1) Jimmy Ellis was born in 1945 in Orville, Alabama. His natural voice was very similar to the voice of Elvis Presley, and he used his voice in a masked stage character called Orion, taken from a novel of Gail Brewer-Giorgio based on a famous singer who fakes his own death. Jimmy Ellis began recording in 1964 for the Dradco label.

In 1972 recorded for Sun Records two Elvis's songs: That's All Right Mama and Blue Moon Of Kentucky. In 1979 Ellis recorded many old Jerry Lee Lewis's songs overdubbing the Jerry's voice: Sweet Little Sixteen, Save The Last Dance For Me, Cold Cold Heart, Good Golly Miss Molly and many others. The album was credited as Jerry Lee Lewis and Friend and get the top 20, causing a great speculation about the identity of that mysterious "friend" who sounds exactly like Elvis. A TV show made a scientific scan and concluded that only could be the voice of Elvis.

That year Jimmy Ellis starts his career as Orion recording songs as Ebony Eyes, a version of Matchbox's Rockabilly Rebel and Queen's This Little Thing Called Love. In 1983 he decides to take off the mask and tries to start a serious musical career trying not to sound like Elvis, but that wasn't easy, so finally he retorned the mask in 1987. On the night of Dec. 12, 1998, Jimmy Ellis and his wife Elaine were killed in a robbery attempt to his convenience store by three local teens armed with shotguns. ...show less