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Flin Flon's RJ Campbell draws inspiration, healing from King of Rock ’n’ Roll

Thank ya… thank ya very much
RJ Campbell
RJ Campbell, who sings as Elvis, with his front-page picture in the Opasquia Times from the Aseneskak Casino Idol singing competition. Campbell wasn’t a winner in the judges’ eyes, but the front-page credit was more than enough to satisfy the Flin Flonner.

They say music can heal the deepest of wounds.

Flin Flon’s RJ Campbell can attest to that, as he was able to find peace through soulful music.

Campbell turned to Elvis Presley when he didn’t have anywhere else to turn.

As a youth, he spent a few years in the foster care system, separated from his four sisters.

“I was on the backburner. I was scared,” said Campbell, a former Sherridon resident. “All of my sisters went the other way and it was just me. I was all alone.”

Campbell’s sisters, with whom he has since reconnected, were all musically inclined. Music was something he wanted to try as well.

After enrolling in Grade 9 at Cranberry Portage’s Frontier Collegiate Institute, he entered the school’s talent show.

“I always used to sing in the dorms and people would say, ‘Wow! You should enter into the talent show,’” he recalled. “So I did. I’ve always liked singing. I knew after high school I could do anything I wanted to do.”

Success and heartache

After high school, Campbell charted a life course that would lead to both success and
heartache.

“I got married. I had kids. I just really loved to sing,” he said.

Campbell later went through a divorce, when he once again turned to music.

He has always loved music, saying there’s something about it that helps to heal life’s hurts.

Until about 2005, Campbell was a karaoke singer in his living room. He didn’t perform for others. In fact, he says, many didn’t even know he could sing.

“Singing and writing songs was part of the healing process from the divorce and my past,” he said. “I needed something to [help me] heal, so I started writing songs and singing to get my mind away from it all.”

Now years after his divorce, Campbell says music, among other factors, has allowed him and his ex-wife to be friends again.

Throughout the rough patches of his life, Campbell has drawn much inspiration from the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Elvis, a performer he regrets never seeing in person.

“He was poor and I was poor. He was a survivor and I was a survivor,” said Campbell. “In the end, my mom and dad split up and just the challenge of getting out of the situation I was in [was similar to that of Elvis]. He was poor and he came out of his situation. I took it upon myself and I followed in his footsteps.”

While Campbell says he didn’t follow Presley into musical fame, he used him as a role model to get to where he is today – a father, grandfather, businessman and performer.

“I would have tears in my eyes every time I sang his songs,” said Campbell, still emotional about his past. “It’s just all part of the healing process.”

Going public

Since deciding to go public with his talent a decade ago, Campbell has entered talent shows and performed karaoke at a number of establishments in Flin Flon, The Pas, Winnipeg and Medicine Hat, Alberta.

For the past five years he has stepped onto the stage in a tailor-made Elvis jumpsuit complete with a personalized “RJ” belt buckle.

Though Campbell takes on the appearance of Elvis, he always reminds people that he’s not an impersonator.

“I just love Elvis. He’s my idol,” said Campbell. “I love to do his songs because that’s where my voice is. It was a challenge and I love challenges.”

Campbell spends weeks preparing for performances.

He performed at the Flin Flon Trout Festival a few years ago, placing third in the singing competition.

On a larger scale, Campbell performed at last year’s Idol competition at the Aseneskak Casino in The Pas.

Although he didn’t place in the final standings, Campbell says the real prize was earning a front-page picture in the Opasquia Times, the newspaper covering The Pas, and getting to perform on stage.

“When they introduced me as Elvis as RJ, it’s a win-win situation,” he said.

“In the end, when I performed to the best of my ability and didn’t make a mistake, I got the crowd going...and it was like I won. It’s nice to win, but there are other talents out there, too.”

Singing as Elvis in the Idol competition was a given for Campbell, but he also likes to channel Roy Orbison, CCR and Neil Diamond.

Campbell takes his music very seriously and won’t perform a song until it is perfect.

“But even when I perform I have the jitterbugs inside me,” he said. “You just have to overcome it and focus.”

Campbell once spent an entire year trying to perfect “Crying” by Orbison.

“I’d sing it four or five times a week. I just love that song,” he said. “It’s all about practice – practice, practice, practice. I’d go over that first line over and over and over again until I could sing those high notes.”

Great performance

When he’s on stage, Campbell says his attention is on perfecting each song and delivering a great performance.

“And if I do make a mistake, it’s about recovering without anyone noticing,” he said.

Campbell’s last public performance was during the Idol competition in November. He’s been busy with his wood-hauling business, but hopes to perform again soon with his sights set on Medicine Hat.

One of Campbell’s goals as a singer and songwriter is to release a recording. He hasn’t checked that off his list just yet, but while in Las Vegas a few years ago he booked time in a recording studio to work on one of his songs.

Campbell booked two hours in the studio but found out it should have been two days. He worked on his own song, titled “But I Will Still Love You Endlessly.”

Campbell will for now remain an entertainer for fun.

“It’s all about entertaining people and having fun,” he said.

Campbell encourages others who want to pursue music either as a hobby or a career to rehearse and focus on the goals they have set.

“It’s all about keeping your chin up and practising,” he said.

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