Warehouse worker quits job to be £500-a-night Elvis tribute act after pals show video to showbiz agent
- 3 months ago
++CONTAINS COPYRIGHTED MUSIC++
A warehouse worker who entertained pals with Elvis impersonations is now earning £500 a night as a tribute act after they sneaked a video of him to a showbiz agent.
Danny Turney, also known by his stage name of Danny Graceland, used to delight pals and his family with renditions of the King of Rock and Roll's classic hits.
Danny, whose day job was helping stack and delivering pallets of goods, performed in a charity gig which a pal secretly recorded.
The video was sent a video to an agent and was soon inundated with offers of work.
He quit his job and is now working across the UK and has just completed a nine-week stint in Cyprus.
The dad of two, 34, said: “It was never ever the plan to be a full time Elvis tribute as I’ve got a wife, two kids, a mortgage – it was a big jump to become one full time."
Danny used to work as a warehouse supervisor for 15 years in Leighton Buzzard, Beds.
Part of his day to day was stacking and delivering palettes before he was able to quit his job as he was earning more as Elvis.
During the COVID pandemic, one day Danny was singing in his kitchen while making a cup of tea and wife, Laura, discreetly recorded him, uploading it onto Facebook.
He said: “I didn’t want it up there on social media, that’s never been my thing, but the response was really good, and people were saying I should do a charity show.”
At the charity show, on behalf of his late nan who has passed away from cancer, clips recorded by a friend were sent of him singing to agents MK Promotions without him knowing.
Danny, from Leighton Buzzard, said: “I had seven or eight missed calls from a number I didn’t know on a Monday morning at work.
“They said: ‘I've seen your videos and I want to give you some work.’
“I said ‘What videos? I have no idea what you’re talking about.'
“I thought to myself I can go back, jump on a forklift and work myself back up if I need to but then it got to the point where I did 18 shows over one weekend.”
Danny said his appreciation for Elvis began as a child, when his beloved nan had a room that he said was "basically a shrine to Elvis, gold records and everything".
He said: “She’d put on Elvis while doing her ironing and most weekends we'd go to a working men’s club with a live band, and I’d be on stage with my shaky leg.”
As an Elvis tribute artist and professional musician, Danny gets paid between £400 and £500 per Elvis show and is managed by multiple booking agents.
He said his daughter, who is nine, thinks he’s famous after he appeared on TV.
He insisted, however, he is just your “average joe”, despite having big plans for the future.
He said: “I’m recording an Elvis tribute album this week, which is called ‘If I Can Dream’, the title of my favourite Elvis song.
“I like to think I’m a humble guy, I coach football in my spare time, and I play darts.
“Now I’ve got a live band, I’ve done Butlin's and I did a nine-week stint in Cyprus, I just want to take this great opportunity while I can.”
A warehouse worker who entertained pals with Elvis impersonations is now earning £500 a night as a tribute act after they sneaked a video of him to a showbiz agent.
Danny Turney, also known by his stage name of Danny Graceland, used to delight pals and his family with renditions of the King of Rock and Roll's classic hits.
Danny, whose day job was helping stack and delivering pallets of goods, performed in a charity gig which a pal secretly recorded.
The video was sent a video to an agent and was soon inundated with offers of work.
He quit his job and is now working across the UK and has just completed a nine-week stint in Cyprus.
The dad of two, 34, said: “It was never ever the plan to be a full time Elvis tribute as I’ve got a wife, two kids, a mortgage – it was a big jump to become one full time."
Danny used to work as a warehouse supervisor for 15 years in Leighton Buzzard, Beds.
Part of his day to day was stacking and delivering palettes before he was able to quit his job as he was earning more as Elvis.
During the COVID pandemic, one day Danny was singing in his kitchen while making a cup of tea and wife, Laura, discreetly recorded him, uploading it onto Facebook.
He said: “I didn’t want it up there on social media, that’s never been my thing, but the response was really good, and people were saying I should do a charity show.”
At the charity show, on behalf of his late nan who has passed away from cancer, clips recorded by a friend were sent of him singing to agents MK Promotions without him knowing.
Danny, from Leighton Buzzard, said: “I had seven or eight missed calls from a number I didn’t know on a Monday morning at work.
“They said: ‘I've seen your videos and I want to give you some work.’
“I said ‘What videos? I have no idea what you’re talking about.'
“I thought to myself I can go back, jump on a forklift and work myself back up if I need to but then it got to the point where I did 18 shows over one weekend.”
Danny said his appreciation for Elvis began as a child, when his beloved nan had a room that he said was "basically a shrine to Elvis, gold records and everything".
He said: “She’d put on Elvis while doing her ironing and most weekends we'd go to a working men’s club with a live band, and I’d be on stage with my shaky leg.”
As an Elvis tribute artist and professional musician, Danny gets paid between £400 and £500 per Elvis show and is managed by multiple booking agents.
He said his daughter, who is nine, thinks he’s famous after he appeared on TV.
He insisted, however, he is just your “average joe”, despite having big plans for the future.
He said: “I’m recording an Elvis tribute album this week, which is called ‘If I Can Dream’, the title of my favourite Elvis song.
“I like to think I’m a humble guy, I coach football in my spare time, and I play darts.
“Now I’ve got a live band, I’ve done Butlin's and I did a nine-week stint in Cyprus, I just want to take this great opportunity while I can.”