My Life as Elvis. Bobby Sypniewski

      CHAPTER 1

      How It All Began

      Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier!

      —“The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” George Bruns and Tom Blackburn

      It all started when I was a very young boy. I realized I loved music after listening to that song “Davy Crocket,” sung by Fess Parker, who starred in the famous Disney series.

      My mother bought me the 45-rpm record, and I wore it out, period. That’s where it all began.

      I grew up in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, just outside the big capital of Trenton. My parents were hardworking, middle-income people. My mother, Mary, and my father, Harry, were good and loving parents who taught me the right way to live and gave me a strong religious upbringing. We were a happy family who celebrated all the holidays and birthdays together. My brother, Harry, is about eight years older than I am. It was hard to relate to a brother when the ages are so far apart, and I really did not get to know him until he got out of the Army. Harry also liked to sing around the house but unfortunately never developed the talent that I know he had.

      As I got older, I enjoyed watching The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and my first idol was Ricky Nelson. Every week, my family would sit by the TV and watch all the sitcoms, but that was my favorite show. Sometimes at the end of the show, Ricky would be up on the stage, playing his guitar and singing. I could never figure out why he didn’t do it every week. It was disappointing when he didn’t. I said to myself, “I want to do that someday!”

      As time went by, another performer whose talents I admired was Bobby Rydell. I would listen to his albums and lip-synch with him to imitate his style.

      Then something started happening!

      I would hear a song on the radio and really like it. Then I would hear another one and really like it, and then another one! The realization hit me that all these songs I liked were being sung by a guy named Elvis Presley! It seemed like I was taken over by his voice! When I saw him on TV, it was like a lightning hit me! That’s when I knew there was no stopping me! I was going to be a singer in a band!

      I bought all the Elvis records I could, but I was limited because I was a kid and did not have any income. When my parents went out for an evening, I would stay home and sing along with all his songs that I owned on our old “hi-fi.” I would use a hairbrush for a microphone. When I got older, I thought that maybe using that hairbrush was a pretty stupid thing to do. Then I read that Simon & Garfunkel did the same thing. I figured, What the heck, if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me!