Jimmy Orion Ellis

Early life

Jimmy was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi on February 26, 1945, into a single parent home. His birth certificate states the mother as Gladys Bell and the father as Vernon (no surname). When he was two, Gladys left Jimmy at the Montgomery Children's Home where he was put up for adoption. Young Jimmy was taken in by R.F. Ellis and his wife Mary Faye, where Jimmy's surname was changed to Ellis.

While not much is known of Jimmy's early musical development, he told Goldmine magazine in 1985 that his idols included Elvis, Ray Price and Eddy Arnold and that his first public appearance was at the age of 17 at Orrville High's "Religious Emphasis Week". He sang Peace in the Valley. Subsequently, Ellis won the finals of a statewide talent contest in Alabama where he sang Unchained Melody and The Days of Wine and Roses accompanied only by a piano. The prizes: a trip to the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and a $1,000 savings bond.

Ellis later settled into a two-year athletic scholarship at Middle Georgia Junior College in the town of Cochran. He transferred to Livingston State University where he started playing small clubs. He got a "One Shot Deal" with Challenger Records (MCA) in 1974 before moving to the small Boblo Records label. One of his five singles for Boblo was "I'm Not Trying To Be Elvis".

Career

He was professionally known as Orion, and his double-edged claim to fame was that his natural speaking and singing voice sounded almost exactly like that of Elvis Presley. Ellis hailed from Orrville, Alabama and began his recording career in 1964.

In 1978 he signed with the new owner of Sun Records, Shelby Singleton. Earlier, in 1972, he had recorded a cover of Elvis' first Sun single, "That's Alright, Mama" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky", in Florida. It was offered to Shelby Singleton at Sun by the Florida record producer, Finlay Duncan. The single was released on the Sun label with a question mark appearing on the record in place of the artist's name. This marketing tactic effectively, and inadvertently, started the whole "Elvis is alive" conspiracy theory, although it would be another six years before it received mainstream prominence.

After his 1978 signing, Jimmy's star was on the ascendant as he became intertwined in a complex and clever marketing campaign involving books, records, a mysterious cassette tape recording made after Elvis' death and a mask. For a while Jimmy became the "new" Elvis.

Capitalising on Jimmy's close vocal similarity to Elvis, the mask and clever imagery (see "Reborn" album cover), people like Shelby Singleton, Gail Brewer-Giorgio and Gene Arthur enjoyed a financially fruitful time, at least for a few years. Brewer-Giorgio had been made aware of Jimmy and his vocal resemblance to Elvis by her friend, Carol Halupke, in 1980 when they were considering possible lead actors for the proposed but unrealised film based on her fiction novel, "Orion".

In 1980, Cash Box magazine included Orion’s next two albums, Sunrise and Trio Plus (where his voice was overdubbed on old Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Charlie Rich cuts), in their list of Top 75 albums.

The following year, the magazine rated him one of the three most promising male Country artists. Orion continued to put singles on the Country chart, A Stranger In My Place, Texas Tea and Am I That Easy To Forget which all reached the Top 70 in 1980.

The following year, he had a quartet of chart records, none of which fared any better, although of interest are his versions of UK Rockabilly band Matchbox’s hit, Rockabilly Rebel and Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love, both of which, although contemporary, bore a Rockabilly sound.

His final Country chart single was the Top 70 double-sided entrant, Morning, Noon and Night/Honky Tonk Heaven. By 1983, however, the charade had definitely lost its charm for Ellis as Orion. His desire to be taken seriously by the music industry as an artist in his own right caused him to sever his connections with Sun and strip off the mask before a capacity crowd at the Eastern States Exposition, vowing never to wear it again. (When his career subsequently waned, he re-donned the mask in 1987.)

Not a true Elvis impersonator in the sense that he did not make a career of recording and performing Elvis’ material, Orion had always been confronted with the irony that unless he altered his natural vocal intonations, he could not avoid sounding incredibly like Presley. His recording of "I'm Not Trying To Be Like Elvis", seems like a "cri de coeur."

Since making his debut as a Sun recording artist in 1979, Orion recorded 11 albums and appeared on shows with the Oak Ridge Boys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, Lee Greenwood, Ronnie Milsap and Dionne Warwick.

Life as "Orion"

Shelby Singleton of Sun International decided to disguise Ellis' identity on his first Sun single, "That's All Right (Mama)"/"Blue Moon of Kentucky" (Sun 1129), leaving listeners to speculate that the songs might be alternate takes of Elvis' first two songs. Instead of listing Ellis' first album on the label, Singleton printed a question mark. Ellis first album appearance for Sun was as an unidentified singer singing duet with Jerry Lee Lewis on ten tracks of the 1978 album Duets (Sun 1011). Charlie Rich sang along with Lewis on two other songs. Again, the speculation was that Elvis had sung on the songs, particularly "Save the Last Dance for Me".

In 1979 Jimmy Ellis finally merged with an identity, but it still wasn't himself. He appeared as Orion Eckley Darnell, the character created August 16, 1977, by a Marietta [Georgia], housewife Gail Brewer-Giorgo. Her 1978 novel Orion told the story of a rock and roll singer, very much like Elvis. In the novel, Orion faked his own death, leading real-world conspiracy theorists to believe that Orion was the true story of Elvis.

On Orion's 1979 debut album, Reborn (Sun 1912). Ellis appeared on the album cover wearing a mask over his eyes. The album featured some excellent songs including "Ebony Eyes", "Honey", and "Washing Machine". They were sung in the same style in which Elvis would have sung them.

Ellis's Orion character claimed to have been managed by one Colonel Mac Weiman, and have been born in Ribbonsville, Tennessee on December 31, 1931. Listeners of Orion were initially split into two camps: those who knew that Orion was Jimmy Ellis just having some fun sounding like Elvis, and others who sincerely believed or wanted to believe that he was truly Elvis coming back on the scene after faking his own death. As Orion, Ellis reached Billboards country chart with nine singles.

A fine talent in his own right, Ellis recorded the song "I'm Not Trying" (Boblo 536) and the album By Request - Ellis Sings Elvis (Boblo 78-829)

Ellis made a public confession in 1983, admitting he was Orion. He left Sun Records, never again appearing to the public as Orion until the 1990s.

Backed by the Jordanaires and opening act Sherry Carlisle, Orion sang to a packed house on August 12, 1997 at Nashville's Nightlife Theater. In an article in The Nashville Tennessean newspaper on August 12, 1997, it was reported that "Orion having the same vocal cords as Elvis Presley has been both a kiss and a curse, but Orion sings his own tune."

Personal life

One night in Mobile, Alabama in 1987 Jimmy stopped and asked two men for directions to a restaurant. The men accused Jimmy of being a "cop". One of the men took a .22 rifle from his car and the other man searched Jimmy's pockets for money. Jimmy put up some resistance and attempted to flee. They shot him as he ran, after which they fled. Jimmy survived and was back performing later that year.

Death

On December 12, 1998 Jimmy Ellis was murdered in his Alabama pawnshop by one Jeffrey Lee during a robbery. Lee was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His appeal against the sentence was refused on 9th October 2009.

Orion: The Man Who Would Be King

In 2015, film-maker Jeanie Finlay released a documentary film about Ellis' life and career entitled Orion: The Man Who Would Be King. The film went on to win 'The Discovery Award' at the British Independent Film Awards 2015. It was released theatrically in the US by Sundance Selects on December 4th.