Jonny Barber, Vocals and Guitar - Jonny began playing guitar at the age of 8. As a kid, his mother rode him to guitar lessons on the back of her motorcycle, with the guitar tied to his back with a bungee cord.
Jonny was in and around bands all of his life, singing or playing lead guitar, until one night after a gig, a woman said, "You know it's not so much that you look like Elvis as you do a painting of Elvis," and it got him to thinking...
On January 8th, 2004 (Elvis' birthday), Jonny thought he'd give it a go and dressed up in his finest King Bling, staging random sightings all over his home town of Denver, Colorado. One of his early stops was the Rockmount Clothing Co., where he crooned for Jack Weil (inventor of the western snap shirt, then the oldest living CEO in the U.S.A.), and was later invited to perform at his son's mansion.
Soon people began calling him The Velvet Elvis and were booking him for all kinds of parties and club dates. The first time he ever entered an Elvis contest he took 3rd place. In short time, he was the headliner. In 2005, Denver's Westword magazine voted him "Best Elvis", and then retired the category.
In 2007, Jonny began performing with doghouse bass player Michael Baird, who introduced him to Willie Lewis, founder of the Rock-A-Billy Record Co. label in Denver, Colorado. Considered by many to be the "living Sam Phillips", Lewis has been releasing traditional rockabilly records since 1983, including one by Go Cat Go, one of Jonny's personal favorite rockabilly bands. Jonny began writing and recording his own original songs for the label, and also played lead guitar on some of Willie Lewis' recordings.
Along with Jonny's hero, Elvis, Barber's Las Vegas roots run deep. His great, great, great grandfather, Charles Wesley Hubbard, was one of the first white settlers of Southern Nevada. His great grandma, Hortense Evans Nelson, sang for FDR at the dedication of the Hoover Dam. His great uncle Tommy played horn for Liberace. His mom, Phyllis Barber, was a Las Vegas Rhythmette, was recently inducted into the Nevada Writer's Hall of Fame for a Las Vegas memoir, "How I Got Cultured" and a collection of short stories with Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe and others. She also saw Elvis' first show ever in Las Vegas, in 1956 at the New Frontier Hotel, which prompted further rumors about Jonny's lineage.
In 2011, The Velvet Elvis is still shakin' his hips and curling his lip, and has played gigs for homeless people on the street all the way up to royalty, and everywhere in between. His show appeals to men, women, and children of all ages, of all races, creeds, and colors. Elvis' music is universal! The Velvet Elvis has played all over the world, including the crowning achievement for a boy from Denver, Colorado: a gig at Red Rocks Amphitheater in front of a capacity crowd.