Orion (singer)

Jimmy Ellis, aka Orion

Jimmy Ellis (born February 26, 1945 in Orrville , Alabama , † December 12, 1998 in Selma , Alabama), better known under the pseudonym Orion , was an American singer whose voice was very similar to that of Elvis Presley .

Career

Jimmy Ellis began his musical career in 1964. But the breakthrough didn't come until 1972, when a demo tape of his landed in the office of Shelby Singleton , who was running the Sun Records studio at the time .

Due to the similarity of voices Ellis had with Elvis Presley, Singleton asked the singer to recite the early Elvis songs That's Alright Mama and Blue Moon of Kentucky as faithfully as possible. Singleton then brought it onto the market as a single with a Sun Records label without naming the artist. The rumor circulated that he had unearthed an old, previously unpublished Elvis band and now made it accessible to the public without naming it because the rights to all Elvis recordings were owned by RCA Records . When those in charge of the RCA heard the now published recordings, they wanted to sue Singleton for breach of contract. They gave his assurances that these were not Elvis recordings, no faith and even hired a voice expert who finally cleared up the matter.

A few years later, Singleton started the next coup. He had Ellis take a few recordings to match old tapes he still had from Jerry Lee Lewis and mixed them together. The result was the LP Duets - Jerry Lee Lewis and Friends . Again he failed to name Jerry Lee's co-interpreter and again a number of people fell for the bluff.

The artist name Orion and the mask that the artist constantly wears during live performances and on record sleeves can also be traced back to ideas from Shelby Singleton. At the time there was an unpublished book by author Gail Brewer-Giorgio called Orion: The Living Superstar of Song . In this, the life of a fictional rock'n'roll superstar named Orion Eckley Darnell is portrayed, who feels uncomfortable in the golden cage in which he is trapped due to his fame and therefore stages his own death in order to have a normal life in the future to be able to lead. Of course, the plot of Elvis Presley's book seems tailor-made, and Singleton's intent was to build on that. With the choice of the name Orion and the Elvis-like voice of his singer, he hoped to feed the conspiracy theory, according to which Elvis only staged his death in order to lead a normal life away from the hustle and bustle, to feed (and to generate corresponding sales!). Many Elvis fans, who refused to admit the death of their idol, actually believed this production; if only to cling to the last straw that supposedly let her idol live on.

If the voices of the two entertainers were amazingly similar, there was no such similarity in terms of their appearance. In order to promote the creation of legends, Singleton only allowed his protégé to appear in public wearing a mask. The perfect staging for the "deception maneuver" that followed was the first record that Sun Records released under the name Orion. It was called Reborn (born again) and showed the drawing of a masked singer over an open coffin in which the same man (also with a mask) was lying. This record only contained songs that Elvis had never recorded, but which suited his style, so that one could think that the King of Rock'n'Roll might have recorded them himself. It didn't take long before rumors began to circulate that Elvis had faked his death and was now singing under the pseudonym Orion.

The whole story came to an end when Jimmy Ellis wanted to be himself again. He asked Singleton to be allowed to appear under his real name and without a mask from now on, which he refused with regard to the economic risk. On New Year's Eve in 1981, Ellis freed himself from the whole "dizziness" when he tore off his mask during a performance and threw it onto the stage. Now everyone could see without a doubt that the man on stage was by no means Elvis Presley (which for many Elvis fans, who were not fooled, had never been in doubt before either).

After this event, Jimmy Ellis aka Orion and Shelby Singleton parted ways. Performing only sporadically on stage, Ellis increasingly withdrew to the farm near Selma, Alabama, which he had inherited from his parents. Because the farm was on a highway, he also opened a shop here. On the night of December 12, 1998, he was behind the counter when three armed youths rushed in and opened fire. Jimmy Ellis died from his fatal gunshot wounds in just ten minutes.

Discography

Albums

as Jimmy Ellis

• Ellis Sings Elvis
• Jimmy Ellis At Playground Recording Studio
• James Ellis: Because He Lives
• James Ellis: Genuine
• James Ellis: Special Moments
• James Ellis: The Legend Continues

as Orion

• 1978: Orion: Reborn
• 1979: Orion: Sunrise
• 1980: Orion: Country
• 1980: Orion: Rockabilly
• 1989: Orion: The Final Performance
• 1991: Orion: Some Think He Might Be King Elvis

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		Country
1979	Ebony eyes	Country89 (6 weeks) Country
1980	A Stranger in My Place	Country69 (5 weeks) Country
	Texas Tea	Country68 (6 weeks) Country
	On I That Easy to Forget	Country65 (9 weeks) Country
1981	Rockabilly Rebel	Country63 (6 weeks) Country
	Crazy Little Thing Called Love	Country79 (4 weeks) Country
	Born	Country76 (5 weeks) Country
	Some You Win, Some You Lose	Country83 (4 weeks) Country
1982	Morning, Noon and Night	Country69 (1 week) Country
	Honky Tonk Heaven	Country70 (4 weeks) Country

Web links and individual references

• Official website (English)
• Orion in the Internet Movie Database (English)

swell

1. ↑ The date of birth is taken from the English language Wikipedia. It is missing in other sources, for example on the official homepage (see above) and is therefore not completely understandable.
2. ↑ Chart sources: US