Ronnie McDowell

Best known for his visual and vocal resemblance to Elvis Presley, Ronnie McDowell enjoyed a series of Top Ten hits on the country charts during the first half of the '80s. McDowell was born in 1950 and raised in the small town of Portland, TN, and started singing publicly while serving the Navy in the Philippines. He hit big in 1977 with "The King Is Gone," a tribute to Presley written immediately after the singer's death; released on the Scorpion label, the song climbed into the Top 20 of both the pop and country charts. McDowell capitalized on the exposure to land another ...