JUAN LOZANO Elvis Juan's musical life began when he discovered his dad's Elvis 45's when he was six years old. From that time on it was music and little else. As a teenager he began composing his own songs and it wasnt long before he was fronting 80's bands with colourful names like Alfabet Soop. Changes in his personal life led to a deep love of Gospel music and in the late 80's Juan recorded 2 albums with a gospel theme. In the early 90's Juan took a leave of absence from the Music Business to concentrate on other concerns but in 1996 he returned to live performances. Things have truly come full circle now that he is fronting The Graceland Band. In his own words, "the electric energy within this band is the greatest I have known in my whole career. I hope to keep performing with them for as long as Ipossibly can"! DARREN PARRY Backing vox (Graceland Quartet) Darren adds soulful virility with his baritone/tenor voice to the intertwining harmonies of the band. Darren learned the intricate subtlety of this skill while singing (and still does) with the Black Mountain Male Chorus, a professional chorus group who have sang with, among others, Bryn Terfel, Michael Ball and Shirley Bassey. Darren has performed many concerts and travelled many miles while touring the USA, France and Hong Kong. Darren is a ridiculously talented singer/songwriter; having won the 2004 UK Songwriting Contest for his song, “Reality” and signing a Publishing deal, emphasising his world-class songwriting talent. His influences are rock and soul greats like, Al Green, Joe Cocker, Michael McDonald and Paul Rogers. More info at: www.darrenparry.com LUCY JONES Backing vox (Graceland Quartet) Lucy has been singing for many years of her young life. She has recently started singing in a duo known as Mills & Boon which is going extremely well on the circuit; as well as providing lush harmonies in the Paul Black Graceland Band. Her influences are Aretha Franklin and Erykah Badu (soul, blues and jazz). STEVE WADE Keyboards Originally from Merthyr Tydfil, Steve now lives and works in Cardiff. He hopes you’ll never have to meet him in his day job as he’s an insolvency practitioner! He’s played on keyboards since he was tall enough to sit on a piano stool. His main influences come from the 70’s keyboard heroes such as, Jon Lord of Deep Purple, and Richard Tandy of ELO. He currently plays regularly with his other band, ACAB, around Cardiff and the valleys. RICHARD HENLEY DAVIES Bass Once upon a time there was a little bunny rabbit who lived in a small goose. One day they had a fall out and parted the lawn with mustard, never to bacon the leavedge again in quicksand. Richard, in total disgust, decided to play bass guitar as a reaction to this! His influences; anything beginning with the letter ‘T’. His ambitions include; to joyfully throw a hamster in the air, only to catch it again, dressed as an owl! HARRIET RAYBOULD Backing vox (Graceland Quartet) Harriet has a very soulful/powerful voice that is very versatile.As well as singing with the Graceland Band sings professionally as a solo artist and has recently formed adynamic duo with Lucy (of the Graceland Quartet) called '' Mills and Boon ''. GERALD WILLIAMS Saxophone (Jungle Room Brass Section) KRIS JONES Lead Trumpet Kris Jones was born and brought up in Merthyr Tydfil. He studied the piano form the age of 7 and the cornet with the Tredegar brass band. In September 1993 Kris studied at The Royal Northern College of Music to study the trumpet for 4 years. On completion of his course Kris remained in Manchester freelancing, working with west end touring shows and big band groups. In the spring of 2000 Kris went to work on the QE2 cruise liner playing in the cabaret bands. Jazz and big bands and also taking him to the 4 corners of the world and getting drunk in every city visited! In addition to the Paul black Graceland band Kris plays with the Bootleggers a funk soul pop and covers band in Worthing where he lives. By day Kris is a Fire-fighter with the London Fire Brigade (smoke alarms save lives). KELLIE HAGERTY Personel Manager/Fan Club Co-ordinator. MARK MEE Backing vox (Graceland Quartet) MICHAEL RYAN Trumpet (Jungle Room Brass Section) ROBERT DEVEREUX Guitar I've been playing guitar for just over a week now. My mum says I'm getting better. Always wanted a Fender Strat and a motorbike - both sorted. Influences vast and varied but include Rory Gallagher, Ritchie Blackmore, Hendrix, and Ken Dodd. luv Rob. xxx TOMMY ‘D’: Piano Tom has been playing piano so long he can’t recall the exact year he first heard Winifred Attwell! Tom has been on the British/international rock ‘n’ roll circuit for over two decades. He has toured Italy, Sweden and the States with many of rock ‘n’ rolls great musicians. THE GRACELAND BAND Elvis tributes come in many different shapes and sizes, covering 23 years of the man and his music.Whilst the title of best Elvis Tribute Act (ETA) is a much fiercely contested subject, it is almost universally agreed that the title of biggest ETA lives firmly in the hands of The Graceland Band. Drawing from the zenith of Elvis’ great comeback period, the band now boast a 16 man, at its strongest (and woman, well women actually) line-up. Each member is agreed that this is absolutely essential if one is to pay tribute to this quintessential period of Elvis’ career. Following the terrible events in the South Seas off the coast of Thailand, founder member Paul Black and Juan Lozano (in the role of Elvis) agreed that the time was right to put together a hum-dinger of a show; something they had talked over for eighteen months! The Tsunami Appeal proved to be the catalyst that spring-boarded the boys into action. The response from the very first show was simply overwhelming. The band was onto something good! A string of dates followed, cultimating in the hugely successful trio of shows at the National Elvis Convention in Porthcawl, South Wales (Sept/Oct 2005). By that time, the line up had solidified into the highly charged, perfectly syncopated unit which exists today. Boasting a five piece brass section, consisting of trumpeters Kris Jones and Mike Ryan, tenor sax player Gerald Williams, baritone saxophonist John McCarthy and trombone supremo Gwyn Daniel. The band draws heavily on this hugely ‘meaty’ back-line, the objective being to hit the audience right between the eyes! When you add the other ingredients to this cuisine of talent, the result is phenomenal. Adding the vocal talents and harmonies of Lucy Jones, Harriot Raybould, Mark E Mee and Darren Parry you begin to get an idea of the wall of immaculate sound that confronts you every time! The front line are all superb musicians in their own right. The rhythm unit of Clifford and bass player Richard Davies has been best described as a freight train at full speed! Standing alongside Richard are the guitar talents of Robert Devereux and Kevin Ford, both from different backgrounds; both having found that niche however which complements one another perfectly. The line up is completed by keyboard player Steve Wade and the guy who likes to be known simply as Tom. Tom provides much of the frenetic and dynamic rock ‘n’ roll piano, so prevalent in Elvis’ early 70’s performances. This allows Steve to focus on a whole host of sounds, orchestral and otherwise (he plays a mean Hammond organ) and provides the band with that grandiose feel that you get from a live orchestra. Finally, it is Juan’s job to slip into that suit and for that 1 hour or so, to bring the magic back to the audience. All we can say is; it’s worked so far. JOHN McCARTHY Baritone Saxophone (Jungle Room Brass Section/ Sound Engineer) KEVIN FORD Guitar