Local resident wins ‘Heart of the King’ award at Elvis Festival in B.C.
July 14, 2022, 11:08 am
Sierra D'Souza Butts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sylvio Fontaine of Whitewood won the “Heart of the King” award at the 25th Annual Penticton Elvis Festival in B.C. this year.
The festival is Canada’s largest and longest-running Elvis Festival, where different Elvis Tribute Artist (ETA) across the country compete against one another to qualify for the Memphis “Ultimate Elvis Finals.”
The competitors at the Penticton festival included both professional and non-professional ETAs.
“It felt fantastic to win the ‘Heart of the King’ award, it’s compromised by the other Elvises that are there, then they vote on the person that has the best attitude, who helps other people out, and who does a good performance,” said Fontaine.
Out of the 27 performers there, Fontaine won the award for having the most compassion.
This was the second time Fontaine won the award, as he won it the first time at the 2019 Penticton Elvis Festival.
“To me it’s worth everything, it’s more than winning the number one award of the competition. I’m the first non-pro in the Penticton Elvis Festival to ever win it, it’s usually a professional that wins it, but I’m the first non-pro to win it twice in a row,” he said.
“I love singing you can ask anyone, I always sing and I love Elvis’s music. I just want to keep the memory of him alive by singing a few songs. I’ve been performing for about 35 years.”
Fontaine spoke about what first sparked his interest to become an Elvis performer.
“Someone dared me to enter a competition, the first one was a lip sync competition and I got second place. Then they asked me why don’t I start singing, so I started singing,” he said.
“It’s nice to be on stage and seeing the smiles on fans faces, it’s basically one big family of the Elvis community. At the Penticton event this year, there was about 3,500 people and the gospel show that happens at the end of the weekend there was about 4,000 people. It’s a big event.”
Fontaine is booked throughout the year for performances
Although being an Elvis Tribute Artist is not his full time job, Fontaine said he does performances on a monthly basis.
“I like to keep it on the low, I performed in Moosomin at the community centre about three weeks ago. It’s really whenever people call me and I see if I can squeeze a performance in, I have a full time job too so I try to balance things out,” he said.
“It’s quite fun, I usually cover a lot of Elvis songs. I like to sing a lot of the obscure Elvis songs, the ones that a lot of people didn’t know he sang.
“At the competitions though, you pick your songs on stage and those are the songs you have to perform. You submit your songs and they pick which ones you have to perform, the competition is stressful because everyone wants to win, but this year I just wanted to have fun.”
Fontaine talked about what his most memorable experiences have been throughout his career as an Elvis Tribute Artist.
“I’ve met personal friends of Elvis, I’ve met his back up singers and I still keep in touch with his best friend who lives in L.A. right now,” he said.
“I still keep in touch with him, he starred in six Elvis movies and was Elvis’s personal friend. I also met his body guard and tour manager.
“This past weekend I met a back up singer for the Stamps Quartet which was Larry Strickland. I talked to him he is a very nice guy, he was also the husband of Naomi Judd who recently just passed away.”
Fontaine said getting the chance to meet different types of people who share the same passion he has for Elvis’ music has been a great experience.
“I’m still in awe, every time I go to the competition I just grin from ear to ear, it’s such a great feeling,” Fontaine said.
“Everyone who is backstage is helpful, there are fellow ETAs and they are always there to help you out. If you are missing something they’re there, and we’re always just cheering each other on. It’s such a great family unit.”
Forty-five years after his passing, Fontaine said the fan base for Elvis is still going strong.
“There’s fans from one year old to 80 years old. In the last couple of years too I’ve been noticing a lot of younger fans, like pre-teens who come out which is awesome,” he said.
“It’s been great, people can contact me if they want me to do a show. I don’t really do the big shows, but the smaller shows I’m always open to do.”
Fontaine has two upcoming performances, the Canadian Bluemoon Festival in Merritt, and the Blue Suede Music Festival in Alberta.
