It's August and somewhere here in England there is a packed audience, where all attention is riveted on the floodlit stage. The reverent fans watch the white luminescent figure crooning into the microphone. His hair flops on to his forehead as he bounces on the balls of his feet, shaking his legs and jerking his shoulders. Rings sparkle and sequins flash on the king of rock 'n roll. Ladies and Gentlemen, Elvis is back, as a woman. Well, as three women actually, our very own English roses. Enter Enid Butler, Di Gregory and Janis James in one of the more important periods of Elvis history: August 16 and the 24th anniversary of his death. A commemorative time for Elvis fans when his music and presence is recreated and celebrated. Officially known as Elvis Week in Memphis, Tennessee, his memory is also rekindled here in England, through musical events and competitions organized by local fan clubs. In 1977 the year that Elvis died, there were 37 Elvis impersonators in the world. Today, there are more than 48,000 - all trying to stand out from the rest. All aiming to be an original impersonator - to be as close to Elvis as possible, but individual enough to stand out from the crowd.

"I've wanted to be Elvis since I was nine years old," says thirty-seven year old Di Gregory, "ever since I first saw a picture of him in my sister's Jackie magazine." She performs the Vegas years, the glittery razzmatazz Las Vegas period in Elvis's career, when he returned to the stage in the 1970's, "because it's the first image I ever saw of him and it impacted hugely on my life." Her mum makes all her jumpsuits copying such famous Elvis costumes as the glittery starburst jumpsuit and reverse pinwheel jumpsuit which is black. The costumes are a key factor of the Vegas era, when Presley performed tailored, package shows in the huge auditoriums of Las Vegas. With an orchestra and backing singers, this was the modern Elvis and this is what Di is trying to reinvent in her performances at festivals and cabarets around the country. With two backing dancers, this is Elvis moves to Elvis grooves, where the choreography becomes as important as the singing.

Ex-racing jockey Janis James, had her £2000 replica fringe jumpsuit designed by Elvis's designer in the USA. Besides the 5 foot height requirement she requested a wider cut down the sides of the torso, to hide her feminine curves. She also impersonates the '68 black leather Elvis, which she finds more energetic.

Whatever the era, the most important aspect of Janis's performance is the voice. She once had her demo tape accepted for the "Stars In Their Eyes" TV tribute show, but couldn't audition as the programme doesn't permit cross gender impersonations. But for her is was the proof that she could do Elvis, regardless of her small stature and gender. "If I've got the voice then the rest doesn't really matter, the mannerisms and movements become a natural thing, like for him I suppose." Janis spent two years working on deepening her voice to give her the confidence she needed for a male impersonation. She practised at home in Barnet every day, forcing her voice to go deeper and deeper. "It ripped my throat apart, but I desperately wanted to see if I could do it," she replies in a surprisingly soft voice. "The deep chords come naturally now when I sing." But she also believes that if she was a guy she'd probably impersonate Elvis anyway. Perhaps then she would venture to tell her friends and neighbours about her crooning habits. A mother at thirty-five, she still doesn't tell her friends the specifics of what she does. They know she sings, but they don't know about Elvis. "I'm a bit shy, I think," she says, "I don't carry the impersonation around with me, I leave the act on stage."

For an impersonator, everything Elvis has ever done on stage gets freeze-framed, rewound, rehearsed, replayed over and over, in order to get it exactly right. Enid Butler practises at home with a microphone or headphones, or with the stereo if she's doing the housework. She prefers the former as it lets her concentrate on her husky voice, which she discovered when she started smoking at fifteen, 'when it felt like it broke,' she rasps. "I used to stand at the end of the bottling line in the dairy and dream about being Elvis all day long,' she remembers. Now forty-eight, Enid retired from work with arthritic four years ago. "Nowadays, it has to be the Vegas years - it's easier to walk about. I shuffle my feet from side to side and wiggle my hips and knees as I go. You try doing the 50's Elvis with a knee replacement!" She has studied Elvis's moves from his eyebrows to his feet through watching videos. "Anybody who does this sort of thing will tell you it's easy just to put a wig and a jumpsuit on. But there's a lot of little things that make the perfection: the shaky leg thing, a certain shoulder movement, the way you hold the microphone. To other people they might be minor details, but for us it's the make or break situation - you've got to do it otherwise you lose what you're trying to do." The devil is in the detail and it's the smallest details that separate the best impersonators from the worst imitators. What would Elvis himself think of an Elvis impersonator? - "a devil in disguise" perhaps.

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