Colchester bus driver becomes full-time Elvis Presley tribute act

Dave Black, who is 50 and lives on Straight Road, has decided to go all-in on his Elvis Presley gigs, having decided after a birthday party in 2018 that he was going to start turning it from a hobby into a profession.

Mr Black has always enjoyed the thrill of performing on-stage, having won talent contests in Essex for doing celebrity impressions when he was younger.

But after an Elvis performance went down particularly well, he decided he would have a go at pursuing his passion more seriously.

He said: “I could always do the Elvis voice, but my friend had a 50th birthday party in 2018 and I offered to do a bit of Elvis there.

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“I saw the reaction of the audience after I’d finished and they really loved it.

“It was then I thought “I could be quite good at this.””

At the time, Mr Black was commuting from Colchester to London to work as a senior patroller for Arriva Buses, having worked his way up from being a bus driver.

He started taking singing lessons from an instructor – and he jumped at the chance when his work started a talent competition.

He said: “We started something called Arriva’s Got Talent and I went around all the bus garages in north London doing Elvis.

“I went around entertaining all the drivers and the people in the head office – I practiced and practiced and practiced.”

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Mr Black had managed to balance full-time work with performing, but when lockdown came into effect last spring, he realised just how important his Elvis shows had been as one his main outlets.

“Doing Elvis to me was such a big focus for me,” he said.

“It seemed like I didn’t have any problems, because everything was happening and there was always something to practice for – when the pandemic hit, it affected me really badly.

“We were all in the same boat and there was just no good news – the mental health issues in the country sometimes seemed as bad as the virus itself.”

Mr Black then took voluntary redundancy earlier this year, and with bars and venues fully open again, his diary soon to began to fill up.

“There’s a fine line between people telling you you’re good, and people actually wanting to pay you to do it,” he said.

“I’ve managed to achieve getting paid to do it, and there’s nothing better than getting paid to do what you enjoy doing.”

Mr Black has all the gear – including a £1500 suit – as well as the mannerisms, and the voice, nailed down to a tee.

“I don’t decide what’s any good – the public do that. But to do it properly I had to practice.

“There’s only one Elvis, but you give the impression that that’s what it was like to see him.”