Ronnie McDowell

Ronnie McDowell
Ronnie McDowell presenting his Reflections of a King print during a concert in Florida, 2007.
Background information
Birth name	Ronald Dean McDowell
Born	(1950-03-25) March 25, 1950 (age 67)
Origin	Portland, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Country
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instruments	vocals
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Scorpion, Epic, MCA, Curb
Associated acts	Elvis Presley Conway Twitty, Amber Hayes
Website	Official website

Ronald Dean "Ronnie" McDowell (born March 25, 1950) is an American country music artist. He is best known for his 1977 song "The King Is Gone", a tribute to Elvis Presley, who had recently died. From that single onward, McDowell charted more than thirty Top 40 hits on the Billboard country music charts. Two of his singles – "Older Women" and "You're Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation" — reached Number One on the country charts, while eleven more reached Top Ten. He has also released more than twenty studio albums, and has been signed to Curb Records since 1986.

Following the death of Elvis Presley in 1977; McDowell, a devoted Elvis fan, recorded a song that became his first country and only pop hit with his self-penned tribute song "The King Is Gone," which he recorded on the independent Scorpion record label. The record took off immediately, gaining airplay on country and pop radio stations across the United States and around the world. It peaked at number thirteen on Billboard's Hot 100 singles, and became a gold record. In January 1978, McDowell performed the song on the NBC special Nashville Remembers Elvis on His Birthday, in which he appeared alongside a number of Presley's contemporaries. To date, "The King Is Gone" has sold more than 5 million copies.

Noted for a singing voice that resembled Presley's, McDowell was commissioned to cover a number of Elvis' songs for the soundtrack to 1979 made-for-TV Presley biography film Elvis, during which Kurt Russell, portraying Presley, lip-synched to McDowell's vocals. He actually recorded thirty-six songs, but not all of them were used in the film. McDowell also sang the Elvis vocals for the 1981 TV movie Elvis and the Beauty Queen and for the 1988 TV miniseries "Elvis and Me." All of the Elvis vocals for the 1990 TV series "Elvis" were performed by McDowell. McDowell also contributed to the 1997 Showtime special, "Elvis Meets Nixon." As a boy of eight, McDowell first saw Elvis in the 1958 movie King Creole.