One Night Of Elvis...  (One Hour With Proby)

In January 2011 P.J. Proby teamed up with Elvis impersonater

Lee Memphis King to participate in the show One Night Of Elvis.

A great idea of Robert Pratt from Royal Chimes. The idea was for

P.J. Proby to do the first half of approximately 60 minutes of early

Elvis songs from the Sun Record days and reminiscing about his

meetings with Elvis in those days. Then Lee Memphis King would

do his imitation of the Las Vegas Elvis Presley in the second half.

The shows were a great success and P.J. Proby loved to do all the

old Elvis stuff. He was having a great time. It was a good formula,

but Lee Memphis King was not happy with it. He felt that P.J. Proby

was getting too much of the applause and attention. He said a few

times that he felt like a guest on his own show. This led to a shortening of P.J. Proby’s act in the following months, at one point cutting PJs set back to 4 songs only. After massive complaints from the audience in King’s Lynn, the set went back to 40 minutes. Despite the fact that PJ’s act was only 40 minutes and Lee Memphis King’s act 80 minutes, P.J. Proby was still stealing the show, as usual.  It just couldn’t be helped. But then again, what would you expect if you combine “the real thing” with a good imitation? The promoter/agent David Halford then stopped P.J. Proby’s further appearances on all the shows after the Summer break, stating he had never contracted him in the first place. However, the shows with P.J. Proby had been advertised by the theatres and on Lee Memphis King’s website.  PJ sends his deepest apologies to all the fans that had counted on seeing him and that he had to miss.

Luckily we have a CD to remember the shows by, as well as a great glossy magazine: PJ’s Stories from the Stage. These two could be ordered through www.pjproby.com, under “shop”.

These were all the tour dates:

Thursday 27 January          Palace Theatre Manchester

Fri day 28 January          The Beck Theatre Hayes 

Saturday 29 January          The Key Peterborough

Sunday 30 January          Wyvern Theatre Swindon

Wednesday 2 February          New Theatre Wimbledon

Thursday 3 February           Empire Theatre Sunderland

Wednesday 9 February           Hippodrome Theatre Bristol

Saturday 12 February           Arts Guild Theatre Greenock

Wednesday 16 February           Kings Theatre Southsea

Thursday 17 February          Ashcroft Theatre Croydon

Friday 18 February           Wyllyotts Theatre, Potters Bar 

Friday 25 February           Journal&Tyne Theatre Newcastle

Friday 4 March          Camberley Theatre, Camberley

Friday 11 March           Town Hall Stourbridge

Saturday 12 March          St George Hall, Bradford 

Saturday 19 March          Corn Exchange Kings Lynn 

Sunday 20 March          Regent theatre Ipswich

Saturday 26 March          Playhouse Theatre Weston-super-Mare

Sunday 27 March          Theatr Brycheiniog Brecon

Saturday 2 April          Auditorium Grimsby

Sunday 3 April          Parr Hall Warrington

Thursday 7 April          lRegent Th. Stoke-on-Trent

Friday 6 May          Tregonwell Hall Bournemouth

Wednesday 11 May          Floral Pavilion NewBrighton 

Friday 3 June          Theatre Royal St Helens

Saturday 4 June          Alhambra Theatre Dunfermline

Sunday 5 June          Concert Hall Glasgow

Friday 17 June           Southport Theatre Southport

Friday 24 June          The Brindley Runcorn 

cancelled:

Friday 16 September          CustomHouse SouthShields

Friday 23 September          Memorial Theatre Frome

Saturday 24 September          Tivoli Theatre Wimborne

Sunday 25 September          CornExchange Cambridge 

Friday 30 September          Princess Theatre Torquay

Friday 14 October          Octagon Theatre Yeovill

 

On 7 October 2011 P.J. Proby was invited to Ricky Tomlinson’s nightclub The Greenroom in Liverpool. Finally everybody did get the chance to see P.J. Proby’s own show again. And what a show! P.J. gave the audience one-and-an-half hour of pure power! He was backed by Vanity Fare, who gave their all... New star was saxophone player Sue Greenway!

The following photographs were made by photographer Horace Wetton ©.

On 20 November 2011 P.J. Proby was once again part of the great Yesterday Once More Holiday Weekend in Brean Sands. Again P.J. Proby got a chance to do his own show and again he was backed by Vanity Fare, who also performed there in their own right. This time Liz Greenwood gave a terrific performance on saxophone! Again a great show, which left the audience flabbergasted...