John Ieyoub has been emulating Elvis Presley since he was 3 years old. Now that hobby is helping Ieyoub build a home for his family.
Ieyoub recently earned a $50,000 grand prize by winning the national finals of the Isle of Capri's Tribute to the King contest. The finals of the contest were held at the local Isle of Capri casino, giving Ieyoub a home-field advantage that may have made the difference in him winning the contest.
"That
may have been what put me over the top, because the other guys in the contest
were professionals and all did a good job," said Ieyoub."There was one guy who sang better than me, and another guy who had a better costume, but if we were all equal after considering all of that, it may have been the tremendous response I got from all of my family and friends in the audience that put me over the top."
This year was Ieyoub's third and final year participating in the contest. The first two years, he made it to the finals by winning regional competitions, but lost in the finals in Mississippi. Each time, the hometown participant won.
"This time, I went back and studied what the guys who won did, and tried to incorporate that into my act," he said.
"I noticed that they both performed the song "Hurt," which is not a popular song, but one that is hard to perform. I guess the judges were impressed that they could sing it, so I decided to try that this year.
That song went off without a hitch, just like everything else in the contest.
"The day before the contest, we pulled numbers to determine which order the contestants would perform, and I got number seven, which is exactly what I wanted," Ieyoub said.
"That was a good number because each of the eleven contestants had ten minutes to perform. If you go last, the judges would have been hearing Elvis songs for more than an hour and a half. If you went too early, they might be a little conservative in their scoring. Seven was right in the middle, you did not have to worry about the judges being too tough or too tired."
Ieyoub had tons of friends and family in the audience, but felt no added pressure.
"The entire day of the contest, I felt completely at ease," he said.
"I knew we had done all we could to prepare, from investigating what previous winners had done, to practicing what I was going to do to getting the message out that the contest finals were going to be here. And when I heard the tremendous response from the audience when I was introd
uced,
I just fed off that and went through my performance." Ieyoub opened with "C.C. Rider" and "All Shook Up" before closing with "Hurt."
"When I got back to the backstage area, I went back through my performance and could not remember botching anything or slipping up. I knew I gave a good performance, but three or four of the other guys were really good, so I just had to wait and hope I won."
When decision time came, Ieyoub already felt like a winner.
"Honestly, when they lined us up to announce the decision, I felt like there was no way I could be a loser," he said.
"So many people had come out to see me and support me that it made me feel wonderful just looking out there and seeing everyone. I still hoped to be named the winner, but no way was I going to be feeling like a loser if I was not. I was just so thankful for all the people who helped me, from the hairdresser, the casino, members of the local Elvis club, the media outlets and all of my family and friends
After the big announcement, Ieyoub was mobbed by so many well-wishers that it took him two hours to reach his car.
"There were so many people coming up that wanted to shake my hand that it took a while to get back to the car," he said.
"It was so hectic that we decided to wait a couple of days before picking up the check. It was surprising, getting a reception like that after the contest, and seeing how easy it was for the casino to write a check for that amount of money."
The money will be used to pay for a house John and wife, Heather, are building. Also living in the house will be 1-year-old daughter Gambrelle, who shares a birthday with the King, and son Hunter.
"That is all we are going to use it for. It is going towards the house and to pay some monthly bills. We are not going to do anything extravagant," Ieyoub said.
John won a talent show at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School as a 6-year-old first-grader by imitating Elvis. He now says his competition days are over.
"It was fun, but it was also stressful and took a lot of effort from so many people," he said.
"I am thankful that my boss put up with me walking around with the crazy sideburns and long hair for the past year," he said.
"It was hard having to put my wife through everything getting ready for the contest, and I had done it for three years, so it was time to move on whether I won or not. I am just glad that I was able to do it here in my hometown, representing the Lake Charles area. I would be willing to be a judge or emcee, but I am not going to be a participant anymore."