Borrowing Fame

An old entertainment truism says that you're nobody until you're somebody else in Las Vegas.

Just ask any tribute artist.

Few people set their sights on a singing career as a tribute artist or impersonator, yet plenty of people walk that path across this city's stages. On the surface, it seems to be one great big goof. After all, what serious performer would forgo his own identity at the moment when the spotlight is shining down on him?

But those people who earn a living as tribute artists will tell you, things aren't always as they seem. Most of them arrived where they are because they thought it was a stop on the way to something bigger and better. The chance to perform -- and earn as much as six figures -- keeps them in that role.

Following are the stories of six local tribute artists:

1. SHARON OWENS

Alter ego: Barbra Streisand

Current projects: Performing in "Barbra and Frank -- The Concert That Never Was" at the Riviera. Owens also performs at a lot of private parties and gigs in other cities.

Aspirations: To continue riding the wave of success she has had with the "Barbra and Frank" show. "If you put 'Sharon Owens' up on the marquee, no one would come even though I have perfected my vocal ability. When you put 'Sharon Owens as Barbra Streisand' they come."

Bio: Growing up in St. Petersburg, Fla., Owens, 41, knew she wanted to be someone. She had no clue that she'd wind up being somebody else.

The youngest of three, Owens describes her childhood as "wonderful." After graduating from high school, Owens left home, but not for college. She embarked on a three-year tour, trying to become a singing star on her own. That didn't work out, even though a newspaper had written "a star is born" about the teenaged talent. She moved home and got her degree in music. After graduating, Owens moved to Los Angeles to teach music and sing on the side. She became well-acquainted with dinner clubs across the city.

In 1994, she started spoofing Streisand during performances.

"I wasn't serious. Believe me, I was spoofing. I was way overacting," says the mother of two. "In 2000, I started taking it seriously."

Four years ago, she was approached by a producer about doing a show with the premise "What if Frank Sinatra and Streisand had performed a concert together?"

It has been a solid success, she says.

As a tribute artist, there's no identity crisis for Owens; she believes in her own vocal and creative abilities. Being Streisand gives her the chance to use both. It's the ultimate acting job, transforming oneself into a well-known persona, she says. Watching videos helped Owens learn Streisand's mannerisms and expressions.

"What's interesting about being an impersonator is people don't understand it," Owens says. "But the good ones, they were musicians, performers way before they took on the characters. In a million years I couldn't imagine being an impersonator. But there is a really neat art form when it's good. But when they're done badly, whoa.

"I have studied it and honed it. Now it's just a character I play onstage, basically it's no more than that. Off-stage I'm really nothing like her at all. Sometimes I think I'm the opposite."

2. TERRA JOLE

Alter ego: Britney Spears

Current projects: Performing in various Los Angeles and Las Vegas locations.

Aspirations: "To really break through the Britney walls. I would say this year, that's my goal. I'm really trying to do it now. I've made my own single. I've been writing my own music. It's always been my goal, but I feel like there are so many avenues this year, I'll be able to achieve it."

Bio: Born and raised in Texas, Jole, 27, knew she wanted to be a singer when she was 5. What she didn't know was what a difficult path she had chosen. All of the expected obstacles to becoming a bona fide recording artist were compounded by the fact that Jole is a little person, born with achondroplasic dwarfism. A grade school talent show, in which she planned to sing a song dressed as Annie, taught Jole a hard lesson: Her short stature might cause people to overlook her abilities and, worst of all, forget that she's a person with feelings.

"In this talent show I was in, they actually told my mother on the day of the show that I wasn't allowed to perform," Jole recalls, "because I wasn't like the other kids and parents thought it would distract from the show."

Such attitudes might have destroyed the dreams of a lesser person but they only fueled Jole's. At 17, she had an epiphany at a Celine Dion concert.

"I remember being thrown overboard by her performance," Jole says. "I remember crying the entire time because I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. That was the first time I realized I wasn't going to let anything get in my way."

And she hasn't. An 18-month run in a Mini Kiss band as the lead singer, Mini Paulina, led to her Mini Britney gig at a Super Bowl party, which led to Beacher's Madhouse at the Hard Rock Hotel and now, to her solo career. Jole splits her time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, performing at clubs as Mini Britney. She's currently talking with a cable channel about doing a variety show and a reality show about the making of the variety show. Jole wouldn't name the channel, saying only that the deal was close to being finalized.

"I never thought I'd be in the tribute artist profession. I knew I just wanted to sing," she says.

3. DAMIAN BRANTLEY

Alter ego: Michael Jackson

Current projects: Performs as Jackson in "American Superstars" at the Stratosphere.

Aspirations: Working on a master's degree in sound engineering. "I would love to ride it another five years, if I could," Brantley says of the tribute gig. "When I started, I was 19, and it was easy on my body. Now I can feel the difference." A few weeks ago, Brantley dislocated a hip and didn't miss a show.

Bio: No tribute artist plans to become a tribute artist, Brantley says, but he may have been primed for it by his father, Junior's, career path. A noted blues singer who played piano with some big names, Brantley's father came to Las Vegas as a Little Richard tribute artist.

"It kind of went from there," says Brantley, 31. "My dad's taking that opportunity allowed me to have my chance. It's been a kind of a fun, weird road."

By the age of 13, Brantley was playing piano for blues bands. When he moved to Las Vegas with his father, Brantley was exposed to the tribute artist world through his father's show at the Flamingo Las Vegas. The man who performed as Michael Jackson in that show took young Brantley under his wing and taught him a few moves.

Dance lessons from the Electric Boogaloos -- a group that influenced Jackson's own dancing -- helped Brantley get the Jackson moves down.

He has been performing as Jackson for 13 years now, and "it's been nothing but a positive, thank God," Brantley says.

Jackson's troubles have only helped Brantley in his own work, giving him fodder for material to use onstage and one-on-one with audiences.

"It is a career being Michael," Brantley says, adding that he has to not only be a singer and dancer but a comedian, too. "There are so many things that go along with the job."

His goal was to work in the music business in some way, shape or form. When the Jackson thing came along, "it was so much fun and it gave me the opportunity, time-wise, to pursue so many other things while being paid very well. It's not often where someone can take advantage of a good salary and have time to pursue what they want," Brantley says.

4. LORENA PERIL

Alter ego: Christina Aguilera

Current projects: Performs as Aguilera in "American Superstars" at the Stratosphere. Also leading role in Sunset Strip at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Aspirations: "The No. 1 thing on my list is to have my album out and become a recording artist and make it big. If that doesn't happen, I'll still be selling CDs and performing."

Bio: Peril is new to tribute artistry. She spent more than four years on cruise ships, singing and dancing for the enjoyment of the passengers, before giving up her sea legs for desert land a couple of years ago.

Her goal was to make it in Las Vegas.

"I came here with no money in my pocket. I auditioned on my first day and got a job in a band at Mandalay Bay. I've been trying to work on my own show, record my own music," Peril says.

The sea life was easy compared to Las Vegas. On the ship, Peril did two shows a week and spent the rest of her time laying out in the sun and eating at the buffet.

"Now I work all the time," she says, laughing. Peril insists tribute artist wasn't on her list of occupations, even though people told her she sounds like Aguilera. The producer of American Superstars heard her perform and made her an offer.

"I never thought about being an impersonator; the job sounded fun, like something I couldn't turn down. I enjoy making people happy, especially little kids," she says.

5. JAY WHITE

Alter ego: Neil Diamond

Current projects: "America's Neil Diamond Tribute" at the Riviera. An appearance, as Neil Diamond, in an upcoming Ron Howard movie.

Aspirations: To continue his success and write a Broadway show.

Bio: White got into the music business doing musical theater and singing with a top 40 band in the 1980s. To earn some extra money, he auditioned for an impersonator show in Michigan 25 years ago. He wound up in Las Vegas, performing as Neil Diamond in "Legends in Concert." After nine years, White went solo. Friends told him not to touch a solo act with a 10-foot pole. Seven years later, he's glad he did.

"Honestly, when I first started, I found out by accident it was just fun. I enjoyed it. I remember as a teen telling myself I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I wanted to enjoy it. When you enjoy something, you work harder at it. That sometimes produces other opportunities."

6. SEBASTIAN ANZALDO

Alter ego: Frank Sinatra

Current projects: Performs in "Barbra and Frank -- The Concert That Never Was" at the Riviera

Aspirations: "If I wasn't doing Sinatra, I would be in the music business in some capacity. It's my trade, I love it. Like anything, there's high highs and low lows. This business can be, what's the word? Insecure," Anzaldo says. "I'm 51 years old. I took my shot as far as trying to make something happen, get famous and get a record deal in the 1980s. Now it's a living for me. And I like doing it."

Bio: Anzaldo grew up in the music business, with a musician-father and his mother, a singer. He started performing as a drummer at age 11, got his first paying gig at 13 and only stopped once he started the Sinatra work.

"I just started singing some of those standard songs, and at one point, people said, 'You kind of sound like Sinatra,' " Anzaldo says.

It was a casual thing at first; then in 1996, the Nebraska native moved from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

"When I got here, an agent talked me into doing a 10-minute medley of Frank. Then I found out there was this whole impersonator world."

He performed around town in Rat Pack shows before ending up co-starring in "Frank and Barbra." Anzaldo proves you don't have to be an identical twin of someone to perform as a tribute artist.

"I'm not a dead ringer, for sure. But I am Sicilian, which gives me some license, and I am his exact height and build," Anzaldo says. "When you get onstage, it's all about perception, isn't it? I sing close enough to him that the whole presentation gives people the perception that I'm Sinatra."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.