Ritchie Newton, born just outside Munich, was closer to
Elvis Presley’s film GI Blues than he would ever have imagined. He was
the son of an American GI stationed in Germany, who had returned to the
States not knowing that he had left his German girlfriend pregnant. His GI
father returned unannounced to Germany 12 months later, to find that his
girlfriend, now with the infant son Ritchie, had married another man two
weeks previously. To cap it all off, the GI then went to Vietnam, where he
was killed in action. That was certainly GI blues!
So
it was probably also written in the stars that the infant Ritchie would
continue the Elvis Presley connection, and is now an internationally
acclaimed Elvis Presley impersonator. However, the pathway to stardom was
not easy and involved much personal sacrifice, and even endangered his
life at one point.
From an early age Ritchie was exposed to music. His
maternal grandfather was a professional musician, and by the time Ritchie
was six years old he had been put into a German marching band. Ritchie was
already showing ability in the musical direction.
Music was driving the young boy, not his school
studies. When he was ten years old he saw his first Elvis movie. “It was
King Creole and I became a big, big Elvis fan. I used to pose in front of
a mirror, pretending I was Elvis.” However, Elvis died when Ritchie was
only 12 years old and he was exposed to other forms of music, with hard
rock and heavy metal being in the forefront.
While Ritchie began singing in this genre, his mother
and stepfather pointed him towards an apprenticeship as a chef. They were
worried about the security of a musical career for the young man and being
a chef was a dependable and portable skill.
By the time he was nineteen he had cut his first
single, but to make singing his career was not so easy. “Music was
always my life, but in Germany it was not possible to make a living. I
sang with my own band ‘Lucifer’ at the weekends and worked in
different jobs during the week. I even worked in the BMW factory for a
while.”
The weekend gigs and weekday work routine continued
until he was in his mid twenties, when as the lead singer of a rock band
‘Mass’ he scored the role as support for the well known heavy rock
band Uriah Heap’s European tour. “I began to live from my music.”
Two years later and he was going strong and he opened a
Rock Bar in Bavaria. Here he was able to sing and perform and make a
living from the bar sales as well. Unfortunately, Ritchie began to drink
the profits. “I was always drunk. I became so sick I had to close the
bar. I lost nearly everything. By 1997 (he was 33 years old) I was dying
and my doctor gave me six months to live.”
From somewhere in the alcohol affected mind he suddenly
woke with the idea of doing an Elvis Presley show. The next part of
Ritchie Newton’s story and how he arrived here is quite incredible.
Having the germ of the Elvis idea, the next item to research was where to
purchase the characteristic Elvis suits. He bought a ticket to Memphis
USA, but a friend told him that tailoring was much cheaper in Bangkok, so
he changed his ticket and arrived in Thailand! Here he did not find an
Elvis suit, but found Koh Samui instead, where he sang in a restaurant and
fell in love with the place.
This prompted a return to Germany and the momentous
decision. “I decided to stop the alcohol. I locked myself in my room for
two months. It was horrible. I saw faces in the walls.”
After getting over the ‘horrors’ Ritchie, now
sober, returned to Thailand, where he saw an Elvis impersonator in Chiang
Mai. The Elvis concept was now stronger and so was his resolve. “I cut
my hair and started to practice the songs.” His grandmother sent him the
money to make his first Elvis suit and his mother sewed on the
rhinestones. It took him three months of practice to change his voice from
the heavy rock style to that of an “Elvis” but he was now ready. He
toured Europe as an “Elvis” for a period and then returned to Thailand
and opened the Elvis Pub with his partners Thorsten and Olivier this year.
Ritchie’s concept of success is wrapped up in his
life as an entertainer. “(Success is) when everyone is happy. It’s not
just money. When people go home with great feelings, that is success. For
me too, it is when I can live by my voice, as I do now.”
He describes himself as being very happy, “Because my
dream was to live by my voice. I am happy to be healthy and I’ll do this
job for as long as people want to hear me.”
His advice to others was a simple, “Never stop
believing in yourself, and practice, practice, practice.” So after all
this time does he believe his is now Elvis? Not at all, “Even the best
(Elvis) copy is a copy.”
He has no real hobbies, other than his music, and his
remaining time he gives to his son who is now 12 months old. He has no
regrets, “This was always my dream. I’ve had bad experiences too, but
you learn from them to make things better.”
Ritchie Newton seems well settled in here, with success
now bringing him several Elvis outfits. Perhaps the one essential
difference is now the rhinestones are sewn on by his girlfriend, rather
than his mother!
