Rock and Pop Celebrity Doubles

Larry Kinder and Bret Michaels

Many tribute acts emulate famous rock stars, one actor who fits this genre’ is
Larry Kinder (LarryBret) who is a Bret Michaels double. As is often the case when the two finally met in person met Bret Michaels was encouraging to his double.
 

Kinder recalled their first meeting.

Kinder: “I have met Bret, and I am actually headed to another rock show in a few hours. Hopefully I will meet him for the 3rd time! I met him at his VIP Birthday Party on March 15 of this year and the funny thing is people thought I was him, and I was directing them to him. When I went up to talk to him it was as if the room parted for me to get through, when I got up to him he was signing something for a fan, he looked up and said "Hell Yea" we did the "man" hug and I showed him my Something to Believe In tattoo (its the same one he has) I had it done two days before his show, he pointed on my arm and said "That's f***ing awesome!" The most important thing about our meeting was I respect this artist, and his music, and the way he treats his fans. I in no way want to disrespect him, so I flat out asked "Are you cool with this?" he said "Absolutely" So I'm pretty happy with that.”

Mick Jagger tribute artist Steve Stone " Mick Believe"has an incredible resemblance and is also a sound alike for Jagger with his own band called appropriately called “Tongue”. Stone and his band perform all across Canada and the United States
 

Stone: “I often have people (sometimes in various altered states of 'conciousness', other times completely sober) yell "Hey look! it's Mick Jagger!". “Or stop me and say it....” “I was fortunate enough to be in the opening sequence of 'Watchmen' as Mick, as well as in two of the companion books to the movie. I had my own trailer on the Watchmen set, that was cool. Seeing myself on the big screen...VERY cool, and seeing my name in the credits, cool.
 

Stone: “Every performance has it's own unique moments, but I must say it was cool when TV Week voted me number 7 in the top 10 things to do in Vancouver one particular week..."top 10 things to do" meaning to see me perform
of course .”

Pavel Sfera who is a look-a-like, sound a-like for Bono and has had quite interesting experiences as Bono.
 

Sfera: “I did a doubling photo gig for Bono himself for last year in NYC with Stephen Klien. I was there Monday, and Bono Tuesday. They asked me to stay but I had to head back to LA for a stint that Bono couldn't make with Maria Shriver..so they brought me instead. Bono is using my poses for the Vogue shoot and he's also wearing my rosary....how cool is that. Even been recommended by Bono himself...”
 

Pavel performs accoustic version of  "One"

Pavel and Band in concert

The men do not have this field all wrapped as there are many talented ladies in this field as well. Another musical performer/Tribute artist is the beautiful and talented Christina Shaw. Her tribute shows to Faith Hill, Christina Aguilera, Brittany Spears have been entertaining audiences across the country. Her amazing likeness even landed her a major jewelry advertisement as Faith Hill.
 

Madonna impersonator Denise Bella Vlasis who resides on the west coast. Denise is also a well known author of many Tribute artist book, includng "Made you look" earning her a finalist spot in the Book of the Year contest from “ Foreword Magazine”
 

Did you ever meet Madonna in person?
 

Vlasis: Yes. About 1989 she was holding auditions for a concert. I knew her choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday. He suggested that I come to the audition and try out. After three separate auditions I made it to the final cut. This is when I met her. I had to free style dance for her (which made me incredibly nervous). After the audition Jeffrey introduced me to her. I was trying to get a job as a stand-in for the tour.
 

What did she think?

Did she know of your Impersonating her?

Vlasis:Yes. I had recently won first runner-up in a contest she held on MTV. She had a contest to make a music video for her. The contest was open to anyone (not just Impersonators). As fate would have it I got a call from a brilliant film director named Luis Marnue who was thinking about entering the contest and needed a subject to film. We had less than 24 hours to make a video and zero budget. Our video was hand picked by Madonna as first runner-up. We were the only video to have a Madonna look-alike make it to the final ten videos which really surprised me because when we were filming it on the streets we saw about 10 girls making videos .There was 2000 videos entered. When I met Madonna face to face it was after the contest. I was not in Madonna drag when I met her but she had my head shot and resume in her hands at the time of meeting.

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