Derbyshire's Elvis tribute singer Rik Gaynor rocks up to star in national television advert

Rik Gaynor was worried about the nature of the advert and the impact on his livelihood. But his resistance finally crumbled when he was sent the script for ‘There’s Only One’ to promote McVities biscuits.

He said: “The script didn’t look too bad so I said I don’t mind doing this but on the understanding that you don’t make me look stupid because it’s my career and my living.”

Rik and four other men, believed to be actors who sing a bit of Elvis, did the shoot for the advert in August. He said: “We had to stand in the middle of Blackpool on the Golden Mile with all the cars pipping. It went on for about three hours!

"It was supposed to be five Elvis impersonators all jostling to prove who was the best and then it was going to zoom away to a picture of Elvis to say there is only one king. But they changed it in my favour so it starts off by zooming in on me and saying ‘There’s only one King’. They are using a picture of me online that says ‘There’s only one’. It’s worked in my favour so I’m quite pleased about that.”

The advert, fronted by Sir Trevor McDonald, is currently being aired on television, in cinemas and on social media.

Rik, 56, who lives in Alfreton, is a lifelong fan of the king of rock ‘n’ roll. He said: “When I was a kid of about six years old they used to stand me up in working men's clubs and tell me to sing Elvis songs especially at Christmas time when they would go around with a hat for me and get me some spending money.

"I got recalled for Elvis The Musical four times in the West End when I was 20; Shakin’ Stevens had previously played the role. Each time they recalled me they said ‘you’re not quite tall enough.”

It was Rik’s wife Sharon who suggested that he become an Elvis tribute act, something that he had previously resisted doing because he was worried that he would fall out of love with his idol’s music. Rik said: “I went to a karaoke bar with her and she said will you sing an Elvis song? Afterwards, she said: ‘why don’t you do more of that, you’ve got the right look and sound just like him’. I’d got an old black leather costume which I’d bought for a previous show that I’d produced. Then I entered a contest and got through to the final and overnight I got a following of supporters. I put together a band called All The King’s Men and within a matter of weeks Alton Towers booked us and the gigs started coming in.

"We got a really big following in Chesterfield, thanks to a lady called Vondra Redfern who became my biggest fan. Vondra and her friends said we need to promote Rik around Chesterfield so all these ladies had T-shirts printed and went around the pubs giving out flyers saying Book Rik Gaynor. Vondra got me a huge fanbase and she used to come to all our shows. We spoke on the phone up until the last week of her life when she couldn’t speak any more.”

A few years ago Rik and his band were invited to perform in Memphis and do a couple of shows where Elvis used to hang out. Rik said: “While we were on the plane I rewrote In The Ghetto and changed it to In Tupelo, all about the place where Elvis was born and the love that Elvis had for his mother Gladys. We put that on Facebook and it went viral, in a couple of days we had over 40,000 hits.

"Even though I love being an Elvis tribute artist, I prefer writing songs about him, his marriage to Priscilla and his daughter. In my show I do classic Elvis songs and a lot of the original songs I wrote. I also do some crazy covers, for example, I do The Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran but in Elvis style.”

Rik has another alter ego – Hovis Parsley – and has written some naughty songs under that name. He said: “Hovis Parsley is a failed Elvis tribute artist, a council worker and he is a little bit like Mr Bean crossed with Norman Wisdom. We’re working on a TV pilot for him."

Elvis and Hovis aside, dad of two Rik is best known for the children’s songs he has written. “The biggest song that everyone would know is Chu Chu Ua,” he said. “The children’s songs are in iTune charts all over the world and I’ve had 180 million shares on Tik Tok for my party songs. One song alone has clocked up over 100 million views on YouTube.”

Rik began writing songs in his 20s when he worked at Flamingo Land in Yorkshire where he was in charge of rides, sideshows and attractions. He went on to work on touring shows called Rock With Laughter where he became acquainted with Nik Martin. Rik said: “When the World Cup was on in Mexico I said to Nik ‘let’s write a song called The Mexican Wave and we can promote it at Flamingo Land’. It became an overnight hit and Haven Holidays said ‘can you write us a couple of songs?’ so we wrote The Caribbean Way and Roar of the Tiger and were then commissioned to produce an album and a DVD. Nik and I got a tour that was so successful they had to get two teams of Rik and Nik, one covering the north and the other covering the south. We did really well and then it just fizzled out.

"Nik went his way and wrote Big Fish, Little Fish for Bob the Builder and I had a hit with Chu Chu Ua. We’ve stayed good friends all these years.”

Not bad going for a South Normanton lad who left Frederick Gent School when he was 14 to follow his dream. Rik commented: “I said that I wanted to be a singer and was told, ‘Gaynor lad, you’ll amount to nothing’. By the time I was 18 I was earning more money than the headmaster. I had a brand new car and was entertaining people nearly every night of the week. I started doing a lot of small parts on BBC, ITV, Central Television and was a regular in the programme Boon.

"I’ve since been in 35 professional pantomimes, produced shows and continue writing songs to this day.”