Elvis lives on in Wayne County
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on August 26, 2018 3:05 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Elvis tribute artist Stephen Freeman makes his way into the crowd to pass out scarves to people in the audience during the annual United Way benefit concert Friday night at the Paramount Theatre.
Dottie Morgan's 8-year-old grandson asked to spend the night with his grandma in her Wilmington home last Thursday. She told him he couldn't because she was driving to Goldsboro the next day to see Elvis.
"He replied, 'Grandma Dot, you do know that he has died, don't you?'" Morgan said --as she laughed. She was actually going to see Elvis tribute artist Stephen Freeman, who she said sounds just like the real thing.
The 73-year-old made the trip with a friend to attend the United Way of Wayne County's benefit concert, featuring Freeman. Freeman has done his show in Goldsboro for about six years now with his Echoes of a Legend tribute band. This year's concert was Friday night at the Paramount Theatre.
"I lived here and came here for the very first concert," Morgan said. "I come back because he's so good. You can close your eyes and he sounds like the real thing. He's very blessed to have that voice."
Her favorite memory of the real Elvis was when she saw him in concert in Fayetteville the year before he died.
"My mother was in her 60s at the time, and she and I were going through the line to get in," Morgan said. "She said she had the tape recorder. I told her she couldn't take it in, and she said they were not going to bother an old lady. We were eighth row center, right in front of him, and my mother recorded the whole concert. I still listen to it today."
During the first half of the concert Friday, Freeman donned a black outfit with a gold lamé jacket. He came back after intermission in a black suit with a red scarf, like the one the real Elvis had worn in 1969.
He belted out song after song, slowing down for some, and revving it up for others. They included "Blue Suede Shoes," "Kentucky Rain," "Don't Cry Daddy" "Poke Salad Annie" and "In the Ghetto." He performed a couple of Elvis' gospel tunes, including "Who Am I?"
When he sang "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear," he threw out small bears into the audience, and the crowd fought to get one -- especially 38-year-old Renea Herring, who was there with her mother, 56-year-old Hazel Ellis.
Before the show, Herring promised her mother she would get her a teddy bear -- and she did.
"I almost broke my arm fighting these other ladies for it," Herring said. "I had told my mom I'd be jumping over that third row if I had to to get her a teddy bear. I told her I would fight these old women off and get a bear. I'm a little bit younger than the rest of them, so I can fight them off."