Limerick Elvis to put on Valentine's gig that you Can't Help Falling in Love With

ON VALENTINE’S eve Limerick’s own Elvis Presley is putting on a special concert that attendees Can’t Help Falling in Love with.

There will be no Suspicious Minds at the Heartbreak Hotel on Saturday, February 13, which on this occasion is the Deebert House Hotel in Kilmallock.

Award winning Elvis Presley tribute act, Tim Ryan, from Caherconlish, is headlining a special Valentine’s dinner and show. It is limited to 100 and proceeds will go to the Irish Cancer Society.

Tim, aged 52, has been an Elvis fan since he was a boy and has been performing a tribute act for almost 20 years. 2015 was a big year for him as he won first prize in a competition at the biggest Elvis festival in the world in Portcawl, Wales. He also came second at the Roots festival in Carlow. To mark his achievements his family and friends threw a surprise party for him in Mulcahy’s pub in Caherconlish.

Domiciled in Athboy, Tim is a regular visitor to east Limerick to see his mum and dad Maureen and Pat, and sister Eileen.

"When I was about six or seven my father had a few Elvis LPs and I used to play them. I'm a fan since then. I'm in the tribute scene since 1998/1999. Last year was one of my best years. I was playing the Millennium Centre in Caherconlish and Claire O’Brien [president of the Flamingstar Official Elvis Fan club Ireland] spotted me.

“She asked me if I would be interested in doing bigger gigs and festivals. I never looked at doing those because I was just enjoying the pub scene. She probably heard that the voice wasn’t too bad and encouraged me to spread my wings as they say,” said Tim.  So what makes a good Elvis impersonator?

“Number one, for me, is he has to sound like Elvis, and secondly it’s the way you get up there and get people to relive their happy Elvis memories and really enjoy it."

And the judges agreed.

“I was thrilled with the win in Wales. It was big, big competition from all over the world. It was my first time going to any Elvis festival and I couldn't get over the amount of people - there was 30,000 at it. You couldn't turn a corner but there was dozens of Elvis’ standing in front of you!”

Tim has never been to Graceland but it is his dream to go there one day. The father of three has a number of favourite songs including An American Trilogy and My Boy.

"Suspicious Minds is a great song, The Wonder of You always goes down well everyone gets up on the floor for Return to Sender." 

Tim was a block layer until the downturn but now is making a living from singing.

"Claire is looking after my bookings and it’s getting pretty full. I’m really looking forward to Kilmallock this weekend and back to Caherconlish in May The surprise party in Mulcahy’s was a great night. I knew nothing about it! Everybody was very good to organise it,” said Tim.

Doors open at 7.15pm on Saturday night in the Deebert House Hotel with the show due to start at 10pm after the meal. Contact 087-9242613 for tickets.