Who Provided The Singing Voice In John Carpenters Elvis (Not Kurt Russell)

Who Provided The Singing Voice In John Carpenter’s Elvis? (Not Kurt Russell)

A young Kurt Russell played Elvis in John Carpenter’s 1970s TV movie biopic, but the Escape From New York star didn’t provide the singing voice.

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Who Provided The Singing Voice In John Carpenters Elvis (Not Kurt Russell)

A young Kurt Russell played Elvis in John Carpenter’s 1970s TV movie biopic, but the Escape From New York star didn’t provide the singing voice. When it comes to legendary actor/director pairings, many are likely to think of Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro, Alfred Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart, or Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. One combination that shouldn’t be overlooked though is that of Carpenter and Russell, who worked on a total of five films together, and remain good friends.

Russell and Carpenter’s most famous team-up is probably the aforementioned Escape From New York, a thrilling blend of action, horror, and sci-fi, and the movie that gave the iconic Snake Plissken character to pop culture. Close on its heels though is The Thing, arguably the best remake ever in either the horror or sci-fi genres. Big Trouble in Little China is definitely more of a cult item, but remains beloved by many. Their only real strike-out together was 1996’s Escape From L.A., although even that has earned fans in the ensuing decades.

The storied collaborations of John Carpenter and Kurt Russell all began with 1979’s Elvis though, which came out not long after Carpenter first hit it big with Halloween, and not long before Russell would firmly transition to the big screen. The two had worked on TV quite a bit in the 1970s, and to their credit, Elvis was well-received by both critics and audiences, and even got a theatrical release overseas. Russell proved a great choice to bring the Elvis story to dramatic life, but any viewers who think Russell also sang Elvis’ hits in the TV movie are in for a surprise, as an entirely different actor handled that.

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While Kurt Russell memorably made his movie debut kicking the actual Elvis Presley in the shin during 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair, it would appear his vocal chops weren’t worthy of the king. Doing Elvis’ singing in John Carpenter’s biopic was singer/songwriter Ronnie McDowell. McDowell was – and is presumably still is – an Elvis superfan, and achieved his one and only mainstream pop hit with the song “The King Is Gone” following Elvis’ death in 1977. He did have a few other hits on the country charts though.

McDowell may not have been a huge star like Elvis, but he did carve out a long career in music, releasing a whopping 20 studio albums, the most recent in 2009. Carpenter and Russell’s movie was far from the only time McDowell did Elvis’ singing, also providing the vocals for the 1981 TV movie Elvis and the Beauty Queen, and the 1988 miniseries Elvis and Me, which was based on a biography written by Elvis’ former wife Priscilla. McDowell later did the singing for a short-lived 1990 TV series about Elvis’ early years too, which aired on ABC.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/elvis-movie-singing-voice-kurt-russell-ronnie-mcdowell/

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