Suburban mum Jacqueline Feilich has turned her Elvis obsession into a successful full-time career.
At first, you don’t know whether to call her Elvis or Lisa Marie. Either way, Jacqueline looks as though she has sprung from the Presley gene pool.
The resemblance is uncanny. It’s no wonder this Elvis-mad mum-of-two from the Sydney suburbs says with confidence that her stage name She Is The King is spot-on.
In the ultra-competitive world of the “Elvis tribute artist” — they hate to be called impersonators — she is rising to the top, too.
Last year, Jacqueline came second in the invitation-only Elvis Tribute Competition in Las Vegas. It was a major achievement, given some overzealous male Elvis nuts stole her costumes and she was forced to perform in just a pair of jeans and an Elvis T-shirt.
“It was a real turning point for me,” Jacqueline tells Woman’s Day. “All those years living and breathing Elvis paid off. I could take my vision of She Is The King and make it work in Elvis’s heartland.
“This has been me since I was three,” adds the 36-year-old. “Elvis, the voice, his movies, listening to him on eight-track cassettes as I sat in the back seat of my father’s 1970s Thunderbird. Elvis really is my world.”
“I used to think my dad was like Elvis,” Jacqueline continues. “And when Elvis died at 42, I’d pray that my dad would make it past that age. I didn’t want to lose Elvis and my dad. Even in my teens, I could be cranking Midnight Oil, but Elvis was never far from the turntable.”
Naturally, she had an extreme reaction on that sad day in 1977, when she heard Elvis had died.
“I can’t believe it’s coming up to 30 years … and it still hurts,” Jacqueline says. “Every year, I’m beside myself. I can’t speak.
“The day he died, I was only seven, but I remember I had to have three days off school. I was locked in my bedroom, hysterical.
“This anniversary [on August 16], I’ll be in Memphis yet again. I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world. I want to be as close to him as possible.”
With her star on the rise, Jacqueline is soon to release her first Elvis tribute album. She is currently promoting the first single, the all-time classic Viva Las Vegas.
She is also on a high with news that she’s been accepted to perform in a tribute competition in Elvis’s home town of Tupelo, Mississippi, in June. The contest is endorsed by Elvis Presley Enterprises and the winner will be regarded as the ultimate Elvis impersonator.
“It’s going to be amazing,” says Jacqueline, who sings in the same key as Elvis. “And this time I’ll make sure nobody steals my costumes!”
She is an open book about her Elvis obsession, but keeps her private life under wraps. Does she live “In The Ghetto” or have a “Suspicious Mind”? Jacqueline isn’t saying.
Yes, she is a mum. Yes, she has a special room she escapes to which is filled with The King’s memorabilia (“It’s where I feel my most peaceful”), but that’s all.
“I’ve got to keep some things a mystery,” she says.
With that, those trademark shades come down, then … Elvis has left the building again.
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