Click here to add text.A QUICK GLANCE AT TOMMY RAY
He may sound like Elvis. He may move like Elvis. He may even have the good looks and sex appeal of a young Elvis, but he's all Tommy Ray.
For the last four years, Mableton native Tommy Ray Gurley has been mesmerizing crowds- mostly female crowds-with his beautiful voice and smooth swing of the hips. Even the men dig the style he portrays.
During a recent concert at the Spring Jonquil Festive in Smyrna, he worked the crowd with handshakes for the men, song or kiss for the women and a dance with the kids.
Even the tiniest girls cast bashful glances his way, following his every move through the crowd.
"I used to put my '50s and '60's records on and sing in the shower but I never thought of singing professionally," confessed Gurley, who has no formal voice training. "I love singing rhythm and blues and gospel. It had soul and meaning ... not like today's country and rock and roll."
A graduate of Pebblebrook High School, Gurley has always been a performer from an early age. In addition to a modeling profession, he has played some bit parts in such movies as "Love Potion #9" and "RoboCop 3".
Although it was his acting agent who first suggested Gurley think about a singing career too, it was a close friend, Billy Bob, who set the stage for his act.
"I was siting around with a friend one night, singing, and he said, 'You kinda sound like Elvis'" said Gurley. "I listened to Elvis a lot, but I certainly didn't think I sounded like him; and even if Elvis had never been around, I think I would have had the similar moves anyway."
He may perform classics by the likes of Little Richard, Chubby Checker and Chuck Berry, but it is Elvis he is identified with the most. Gurley doesn't wear the Elvis costumes, or tries to emulate him, but he's got the voice, moves and the charm to match. So much soo that Tommy Ray won an Elvis contest in Nashville a few years ago, bragged his mother, Lil Gurley of Mableton.
"We have to fight off the girls," she said. "The older women especially love him. They always tell me 'I wish I was 20 or 30 years younger.'"
Gurley performs more than 100 shows a year from the Big Shanty Festival in Kennesaw and the North Georgia State Fair in Marietta to festivals, concerts, and clubs in Canada, Las Vegas, Tennessee, Alabama, Lousiana and St. Louis.
"I want to go to the top of music," said Gurley. "I just trust in the Lord God to guide me and let it fall in place."
