FIRST PERSON: Elvis Tribute artist Clinton Horton

“I WAS born on November 22, 1987, and brought up in a village called Cefn Hengoed to parents Edith and Michael Horton.

When I was four years old I saw Elvis for the first time on the television but didn’t know who he was.

My father was sitting on the sofa watching a video tape of his concert Elvis Aloha from Hawaii and I was fascinated by the jumpsuit and the applause he got and I thought: ‘Wow, this one guy has got that kind of reaction from all those people.’

I sat with my father to watch the concert and I was asking him different kinds of questions and he told me to be quiet because he was watching it.

The first song I heard was I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry and I said that I would like to meet him one day and then learned that he died in ’77.

From then on I was hooked.

My father used to show me his vinyl collection and we watched videos and every now and then I would sneak into his room and get them.

One day he found out and gave me a row but it didn’t turn out that badly because later that same day he gave me a few records that he had doubles of.

After the Christmas holidays when this happened, I went back to school and started singing the songs – I was really into him.

The other children were asking me what I was singing and they wouldn’t make friends with me and even the teachers were telling me to stop singing.

I found a few children at school were taking the mickey out of me – I wasn’t good at making friends and found it disheartening because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.

I had a naturally curled up lip like Elvis and they were saying that I was trying to be him – to this day people think that I try to talk like him but I don’t.

I remember when I was six I got my first guitar from my parents for Christmas.

I remember growing up and seeing the film Jailhouse Rock where Elvis smashed the guitar and I smashed up my guitar just expecting my mum to buy me a new one!

But she couldn’t so she made me one out of a cardboard box instead.

I can’t play the guitar but I can play the rough blues, and I have studied Elvis enough so that no one realises that I am not actually playing when I perform.

As I was growing up the bullying became more severe.

When I was five or six years old I was not going to school because of the bullying even though I knew education was important.

My mother and father did everything they could but it just didn’t stop.

The way I felt was that I wasn't doing anything wrong – I felt upset and infuriated.

I got beaten up a few times at primary school and Elvis was my only way out – he was the only person that would make me happy.

I was closest to my dad at that time and I owe him a great deal because he was the one who got me into Elvis.

At secondary school, I would continue to sing at any chance I could get.

I remember one incident that I was in a field playing with my so-called friends and on my way home I saw a bunch of children who said that they wanted to be friends.

They had been collecting grass snakes and they picked me up, threw me into a skip and threw their grass snakes at me.

(Being bullied) had a major impact on me and I have flash backs to when I was a child.

When I hit secondary school the bulling got more severe.

I spent two-and-a-half years there and I still keep in touch with two teachers who I would confide in.

Everybody called me Elvis – I think some children didn’t know what my name was.

Some people would call me it to take the mickey, but some were genuine.

During my teens I also became interested in other music including Shakin’ Stevens, and Meat Loaf.

As a result of bulling I moved to Saint Ilan School in Caerphilly for about four to five months and then moved again to Pontllanfraith Comprehensive, where I went to some of the lessons but mainly used to go to get my mark and then spend the rest of the time hiding in the toilet cubicle.

But I was 15 years old at this point and after a disagreement with the head over uniform I decided to enrol at Youth Access College in Ystrad Mynach in 2004, where I studied IT office administration.

I was really into computers and used to love solving problems.

I am a happy chap and I enjoy life.

I want to make people laugh and for the first time I found that I was the leader of the gang and had friends.

They found out that I was an Elvis fan and said that they guessed by my hair!

I have three kids from a previous marriage and due to certain circumstances I suffered from bad depression and suffered three breakdowns.

I wasn’t listening to Elvis at that time and was working at a carpet company for two to three months.

Then in 2009 when I was 22, I met my wife Kelly on website Plenty of Fish and my life was changed completely.

I don’t believe in love at first sight but when I saw Kelly I knew that we were going to be together.

Kelly was the one who pushed me to pursue being an Elvis tribute artist.

We moved to Newport in 2009, and had our kids: Julius Matthews on September 1, 2008; Tiarna Matthews on October 6, 2009, and Kara-Jay Horton on October 14, 2010, before marrying on May 28, 2011.

I became an Elvis tribute artist because of my love for Elvis.

If Elvis hasn’t been a part of my life I wouldn’t be here today – I would have taken my life a long time ago.

People hurt other people, music hurts no one.

I love all Elvis songs, particularly the 1960s to 1977 period.

In 2012 I set up a mixed rock'n'roll band, which lasted about six months, and then, in 2013, I decided to became an Elvis tribute artist.

I didn’t know how to go about it but I spoke to a friend who was an Elvis tribute artist and he heard some of my recording and gave me some advice.

That same year I entered the Best Welsh Elvis competition in Porthcawl, which helped me to become recognised.

Last year I did the competition again and was one of the finalists!

I do 40 songs in my show – a mixture of popular ones and some less known.

Best Welsh Elvis finalist in 2014 at High Tide was one of my biggest audiences with about 500 people and my best show was in Llanelli where the audience knew all the obscure songs.

In 2013 I realised that this is where my heart lies.

I wasn’t to do something respectful to him [Elvis] but I don’t think I am Elvis, although I know some Elvis tribute artists think they are.

I want to thank my wife Kelly for her support in helping me and making me pursue my dream, because it is a dream.”

His next show will be on March 19, at the Official Elvis Festival Launch at High Tide in Porthcawl.

Visit cjhorton.co.uk for details.