TOM GREEN ONE OF THE MOST PROFESSIONAL SINGER IN THE US.
Ep.Gold. announced a while back ( as an exception ) on our site about this incredible singer Tom Green.
Now, we have a exclusive interview with this great American Singer Tom Green conducted by our correspondent and Journalist Jacky De Vries.
To read and view pictures and listen to Tom Green , go to his Website:
http://tomgreenshow.com
2002/10/24 Tom Green / Jacky De Vries / Ep.Gold.Com.
1).Hi Tom, what is your background? Where are you from? Age? Where do you live now, do you have children etcetera?
I was raised in Milwaukee Wisconsin (USA). I was a city kid. My brother and sisters were considerably older than I was, so I was exposed to the music from their generation. When they were teenagers they would have "record" parties, where they played the newest 45s of their favorite artists. I liked them all, but I loved Elvis the most and would always ask them to play Elvis’ songs for me. But on March 26, 1960 I saw something that changed my life; the Frank Sinatra Timex Special. When Elvis Presley performed on this special; something about him just reached out a grabbed me. I was only 4 years old, but the next day I took some coins off of my mother’s dresser and walked several blocks from home to a record store and purchased a copy of "Stuck On
You".
2). When did you realize you could copy the voices of other artists?
I never really tried to copy other singer’s voices. I tried to capture the feeling. My natural pop voice is what you hear… if I want to I can make a real attempt to sound just like Elvis, but that would just be a technical exercise and the feeling I put into my singing would suffer. My vocals are more about selecting the right style for a song. I would not sing Bruce Springsteen’s "Born to Run" with a clean pop voice because it would be inappropriate for the song.
3). How did you start in the entertainment business?
Unfortunately my father passed away shortly after my 18th birthday. I had just started college and with my father’s passing came the reality of supporting my mother and myself while going to school. One of the jobs I had was working in a bar in a bowling alley after classes. One day my brother stopped by to check on me and goaded me into singing with the band. I never thought I sang well enough to sing in public; I didn’t even sing in the school chorus as a kid because I figured if you sing in a chorus, you must sing like Caruso. Well, the owner of the bowling alley came in and saw the reaction from the crowd and pulled me aside and said, "Kid, maybe you can get up and sing with the band every night?" It was like something out of an Elvis movie. Within a few weeks, I was singing with the band 6 nights a week.
4). What is your first memory of Elvis?
My first memory is listening as my older brother and sisters playing Elvis’ songs on the record player. My mother said that I would drag one of the dining room chairs over to the phonograph and stand on the chair, watching the record go-around. I clearly remember doing so, and I still get the same warm feeling when I pick-up an old record.
5). You impersonate a lot of artists. Why is Elvis one of them? Is it just because you can sing like him or has it something to do with admiration etc.?
Elvis was my hero as a boy, and imagine my delight when my voice changed and it was so similar in color to Elvis’. What could be better? Then there is the question of the impersonator thing. The only artist I ever tried to be like was Elvis… especially when I first started performing. Who better to copy than the best. But I never tried to act like or talk like Elvis on stage. I don’t really "impersonate" other artists; I "cover" other artists. "Cover-artists" are singers who sing songs that other people made famous. Elvis was a cover-artist, Bing Crosby was a cover-artist; the Beatles started as cover-artists, and technically Pavarotti is a cover-artist. The reason cover-artists fell out of favor was mostly economics. When Elvis first started recording, most record companies were owned by people who loved music. They wanted to bring the best to the public. They matched the best lyricists with the best composers; and the best songs with the best singers. When ! businessmen began seeing the potential of the recording industry, they began buying the record companies. Their lawyers changed the business structure; thus in the ‘60s, songwriters began recording and performing their own material; no matter how poorly they performed the material. Since then the only way for most singers to make a great living in the music business is to write their own songs. This change in the industry has assured that performers like me will never have as big a career as they might have because I only do one thing... I give it everything I’ve got, but I’m a singer, not a songwriter.
The reason I perform Elvis’ songs is because he is my favorite singer. He really was my first voice teacher. I could hear what Elvis was doing with his voice to make his voice sound the way it did for a particular song or note; and this allowed me to develop and expand my abilities. Most power techniques for singing are fairly easy, the hardest thing and the last thing to come to me vocally, was the soft, light and delicate delivery Elvis instituted when singing songs like "Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello". Light production is the most challenging thing to any singer, but Elvis was so gifted that he was able to float his voice almost effortlessly… yet always with great
feeling.
6). What is the most difficult Elvis song to do?
There are several. Out of the "concert" songs, "Hurt" may be the technically most difficult of Elvis’ material. But I could sing "Hurt" at 18 years old the way I do it now. The thing that has changed with my rendition of "Hurt" has been the development of the beauty and finding the essence of the note; this is true of all songs and it takes years to develop. Anyone can muscle through "Hurt" and hit all the notes, but that is not the point of the song. The feelings you impart in your singing are just as important as the notes themselves. "Angel" and "Fame and Fortune" are difficult for an entirely different set of reasons. Hitting the notes is easy, but making the notes beautiful and pleasurable for the listener so that the song communicates something to them is the hardest thing to do. Many singers think that once they can hit the notes, they have done their job… but once they can hit the notes the real job begins. Look at Elvis, he never stopped improving as! a singer and entertainer. Even the rough sound that Elvis used from 1967 to 1971 has artistic merit. It’s an open and wild sound that Elvis borrowed from the R&B artists of the early 50s. At this point, Elvis’ voice had matured enough so that he could rough it up without damaging his voice. But again, he never over-did any single delivery; so he did not incur any permanent damage. Nor did he use the rough sound to the point where it became the focus of the song. There is nothing worse than a singer allowing the delivery to overshadow the song (Something that a lot of pop artists do today). By balancing these techniques, Elvis always delivered a song that felt fresh. His voice was a durable and tough, which enabled him to sing in these different styles. My voice has followed a similar path, and with hard work I have been able to incorporate some of the same delivery processes, but it is by no means an easy thing to do. Many singers institute a fake vibrato when singing. ! Vibrato is something that happens when your voice is "free" (mechanically). Yet when you hear most singers, you can hear that they are making the vibrato by manipulating the muscles that surround their vocal cords. Elvis’ vibrato was real, and you can tell the difference because it clearly changed as his voice matured. Elvis knew that as a vocalist you should not apply the same "sound" for all songs; and as his voice matured, it became darker. Clearly he chose material that let him explore his own vocal capabilities. When Elvis performed a new song he would play with the song and find how he should deliver it. He was influenced by many artists, yet he always took what he heard and used the appropriate technique for each song. That’s what made Elvis the artist he was; that is what I have always tried to do
too.
7). What is your favorite and why?
Sentimentally, "Stuck On You"… because that was the first song I saw Elvis perform on television. "Moody Blue" would have to be included because my mother and I would sing it in the car together. "How Great Thou Art" because of my sister Sherry. But I was lucky enough to see Elvis in concert 11 times, including 6 weeks before he passed away; and he still rocked the house! It is hard to convey to somebody who did not get a chance to see Elvis perform live; the electricity that filled the room… it was palpable. Those are my favorite Elvis memories. To see Elvis live was so exciting, the way he owned the stage, the way the audience responded to his every move, the heart and soul he put into his performance is something you never forget. Unfortunately, video can never capture Elvis’ essence.
8). On your albums you do a lot of songs that are not well known for the people who are not big fans. Songs from movies or b-sides. Why?
I think anybody who performs a lot of Elvis material live gets tired of people requesting the same 6 Elvis songs, but peripheral fans don’t know Elvis’ catalog. Real Elvis fans will come to my show and request obscure Elvis songs that are meant for the studio, not for a live performance. To try to sing "Girl of My Best Friend" with a 120 decibel rock’n’roll band behind you would be futile. And if I sang 20 songs like that during a show, the audience would either be sleeping or crying. Most of the songs I’ve recorded are the kind of songs that most real Elvis fans want to hear, but most are songs that are meant for the studio. Conversely, when I’m on stage I chose songs that fit the mood of the room. If you are performing at the corporate event, the customer may ask you to perform certain material, and you still have to deliver the goods. But when I perform at a concert, it’s all about my relationship with the audience. Sometimes I’ll start by asking for reque! sts from the audience; sometimes I have my own agenda. I always include a lot of Elvis in my show, because I love it and because Elvis fans come to see me because they miss Elvis so much… and hearing me sing Elvis’ songs with a voice like Elvis’ makes them happy. But I perform a wide variety of material in my shows. Everything from Johnny Cash, to Bruce Springsteen, to Jerry Lee Lewis, to the Mavericks. Granted, I don’t sound like any of the other artists I mentioned, but I still enjoy performing their material. So I’m not really an Impersonator, my pop voice just happens to sound like Elvis’.
9). Isn't it easier to do just the big hits, to reach a larger audience?
Yes, the material that I record is often different than the material I perform live. Of course you have to perform a lot of big hits when performing live, but in between the hits I can perform some lesser known material as long as it is delivered with the same energy and feeling that I give to the big hits.
10). You do Elvis very well. But wouldn’t it give you more satisfaction to do your own songs?
If I had a talent for writing songs, I would write songs. I love singing, and most of all I love performing for live audiences. Writing great songs is as much a gift as being a great singer. Elvis didn’t write his own songs, he explored his creative gifts behind a microphone and on the stage, and that’s good enough for me
too.
11). When do you come to Europe?
Is this an invitation? Actually, I have never toured outside the United States and Canada, but I would love to perform in Europe. It’ has been my experience that the rest of the world loves and connects more with the kind of material I perform than they do here in the States. Just like most of the best Elvis websites emanate from outside the United States. Thank goodness Andylon started EPGold, a site where Elvis fans can share in their love of the greatest entertainer we have ever seen. I’m proud to be affiliated to EPGold… and I know Elvis fans truly appreciate a site where they can visit and remember Elvis with others who loved him too. Generally, Elvis is not appreciated as much here as he is abroad. In fact, often Elvis is the brunt of jokes in the States and many Elvis fans feel they have to defend themselves when then tell someone they’re an Elvis fan. Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Murphy, Bonnie Raitt, Led Zeppelin, Chris Isaak, Jay Leno, Martin Sheen, Bil! l Clinton, George W. Bush & Jimmy Carter are all Elvis fans… so hold your heads up high, because you’re in good company.
Tom Green Show®
2002/10/24 Tom Green / Jacky De Vries / Ep.Gold.Com.
