Tough work schedule contributed to Elvis's death

An Elvis impersonator coming to Olds says those who say the King of Rock and Roll was rather overweight toward the end of his career are exaggerating.

Donny Edwards, an Elvis tribute artist who headlines in Las Vegas, will be in Olds on Jan. 26 to perform at the TransCanada Theatre as part of his western Canadian tour.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $40 and are available at Rockin' Retro Antiques & Collectibles or online at www.tcblegends.com.

Edwards will be backed up by a nine-piece band, the Cadillac Kings. The special guest is Cassandra Friskie as Marilyn Monroe.

Edwards has been performing as Elvis since 2002. He's spent a lot of time researching the King's life and watching videos and movies of Elvis.

“Elvis had a 32-inch waist up until about '72; then he gained a little bit of weight. He was about 37 by then. Then he lost it again. He went for almost a year before he started gaining weight again,” Edwards says.

He says at one point Elvis weighed just 168 pounds.

“I've been blessed that I've actually got to put on a couple of suits that he wore, like the peacock and a couple of other suits, and I was amazed to see how thin he was, because I was pretty thin,” Edwards says.

“I mean I was about 170 (pounds) when I put them on and they fit me to a T. I was, like, ‘oh my God.' He wasn't much bigger – if any – than I was.”

According to various websites, Elvis weighed at least 260 pounds and perhaps as much as 350 pounds when he died on Aug. 16, 1977. He was about 6 feet tall.

Through his career, Edwards has come to admire how hard Elvis worked.

“It's amazing when you do Elvis – especially with the performance – how much you sweat. That's how it just blows my mind that he ever gained any weight because he was constantly working,” he says.

However, Edwards believes that hard work contributed to the King's downfall. It's rumoured that drug and alcohol abuse were factors in his death.

“I think because of constantly working, there are times you can feel your body, if you don't have enough recovery time, you can feel the aches and the pains and everything from doing so many shows,” he says.

“I've been on some pretty rigorous tours. I've done, like, six two-hour shows in four days, and by Monday I was – I had to start on Thursday, I had two shows Friday, two shows Saturday, then one show Sunday afternoon. And by Monday, I was wiped out.

“I was like, ‘wow, this is what Elvis did every day – two shows a night.' And it just wears you down. So I understand in many ways why he got to the point that he did at the end because he was just being worked so much.

“He never had more than a month off really, between going into the recording studio and having to go on tour or go back to Vegas or (Lake) Tahoe.”

Edwards believes Presley took drugs to deal with the pain that resulted from all that work.

“I always compare it to being like a football player without being hit, but it's still jumping back and forth. Like basketball players; they don't really take any hits, but usually by the time they hit 36, 37, their career's done. They can't go more than about 12, 13 years,” Edwards says.

“Elvis was trying to do that as he got older, and tried to maintain all that energy that he had and I think the wear and tear finally started getting to him.”

He thinks the breakup of Elvis's marriage to Priscilla Presley was another factor in his eventual death.

“He did love her, but he had trouble changing his lifestyle a little bit,” he says.

[email protected]