EXCLUSIVE: Country music star Drake Milligan has explained exactly how much Elvis Presley has helped shape his style and revealed the extremely rare memorabilia he has
Country music star Drake Milligan has revealed the extent to which the King of Rock n Roll, Elvis Presley has shaped his career. From starting off as a young Elvis impersonator, to playing him on the small screen in CMT’s Sun Records, the hugely talented 28-year-old musician has even been labelled the Elvis of Country music.
Despite his love for the King, Drake has forged his own unique tones with big hitters such as Sounds Like Something I’d Do, I Got A Problem, Over Drinking Under Thinking and recent tune Tumbleweed. It came on the back of a third-placed finish in 2022’s season of America’s Got Talent.
But it was the Suspicious Minds singer who first grabbed the attention of a young Drake. He exclusively told the Mirror: “I’ve been an Elvis fan since I was a little kid. Since I was about seven years old.
“I saw an Elvis impersonator by total accident in my hometown. I was out with my family eating at a burger joint, and there was an Elvis impersonator in there, and he had the jumpsuit and everything, and I was just kind of captivated, like, ‘What is this?’ you know? And then went home and found everything Elvis I could, and just became obsessed.”
He admitted he soon followed suit and that became his “gig”. “I was like Little Elvis,” he said. “And my mom would travel to Elvis festivals, and that grew into me singing as Elvis. And that was my gig all throughout school, you know. That was my summer job, really, was traveling as Elvis.”
It landed him the role of Elvis on popular Country Music Television series Sun Records and led to him moving to Nashville. And it was there he decided to try to step out of the King’s shadows.
“When I first moved to Nashville, I thought, ‘Okay, I don’t want to be the Elvis guy, and I’m going to throw everything Elvis out the door,’ right? And then I just kind of became a George Strait impersonator, really… And Tony Brown was one of those that really helped me with that, you know.
“He’s like, ‘You’ve got to use the Elvis stuff, man. It’s part of you at this point.’ Nothing of what I’m doing is an impersonation, but I like to think of it sometimes as a tribute in my own way.
“Because there’s so much influence from his music, and his singing, and especially his live shows. You can see the influence obviously in my show, but I try to ride that line of, you know, I am my own artist and it’s not an impersonation, but I’m definitely very inspired, of course, by him, and part of who I am at this point.”
Such is his love for the icon, Drake revealed he was recently gifted an exclusive Elvis in concert tape that he believes has never been heard before.
He told us: “I got a tape that a friend of mine sent me. He used to work for the Colonel at Concerts West. And he sent me this tape recently of a board tape of an Elvis concert from December 28th, 1976, in Dallas, Texas.
“And there’s no record; this might be the only tape of this concert. This is like literally off of the board from the show. I haven’t listened to it yet; I’m afraid I’m going to damage it, so I want to take it somewhere and have them digitize it, but that might be a concert nobody’s ever heard before.”
Drake is currently getting ready to bring his energetic shows to the UK once again. And it’s something he admits he can’t wait for. “The coolest thing has been how old-school it’s been to be able to build a crowd over there,” he said.
“You know, the country music fanbase I’ve found in the UK, and really all over Europe, everybody that’s a country music fan is very proud to be a country music fan, and it’s a flag that they wave really proudly, and they love to dig into the history of it and discover new artists and get behind new artists.
“It’s fun because you guys are really your own taste-makers. It’s not just what’s playing on the radio, right? It’s not just what’s popular; it’s what they respond to.
“So it’s really a wonderful audience, too. It’s going to be fun, and these are going to be some of the biggest shows I’ve ever played and most tickets I’ve ever sold anywhere, so I’m excited to see the electricity that comes from that.”
As well as his tour, Drake recently released a Christmas album, A Drake Milligan Christmas, which he promises to showcase in his sets. Sharing his desire to release the festive treat, he said: “I’ve always loved Christmas music, and then in 2021 I put out ‘Cowgirl for Christmas,’ and that was, before this year, the one and only Christmas song I had ever written.
“And, yeah, that song every year kind of seems to go viral online; a clip of the music video will go viral on TikTok pretty much every single year it rolls around, and it just kind of creates this new momentum.
“I’ve always wanted to add to that and put out more Christmas music. And this year felt right.”
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