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Here are the rules set by the Guinness World Book, with regards to setting the endurance record of singing Elvis songs without interruption. One break of 15 minutes every 4 hours. No longer than a 28 second pause between each song. One song can not be repeated within a 2 hour time period. For those who are not in the know.....this is a very difficult feat to master!
Shezad Eikmeir of Hamburg, Germany, was the last ETA to set the Guinness record, marking Elvis Presley's birthday in January 2004 by singing for 40 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds. Then Franz Nuebel, a 36 year old baker from the Eifel region a.k.a Eifel Elvis, sang 60 Elvis songs over and over again for 42 hours, 16 minutes and eight seconds, attempting to break Shezad's time, but did not exactly conform to the rules and therefore was not recognized by Guinness. There is still Norway's Kjell Bjornstadt, who strove to pass the 42 hour mark by 15 minutes and 18 seconds. We have this on record as being the closest, though no official word from Guinness has come in as yet...........
Enter Quebec ETA Scotty Davis, who decided to try his luck on the 27th anniversary of Elvis' death August 15th & 16th in Montreal, Canada, striving to surpass even the latest disputed record of 42 hrs, 15 min by 2 hours equaling 44 hours. This was a challenge, he may or may not make it, so Scotty decided to have the people come and support his efforts in the name of charity, as Elvis himself so often did. Scotty has the reputation of doing many charity events, mostly for the sake of children.
In alliance with the "Foundation For Research Into Children's Diseases", formerly known as the "Telethon Of Stars", who by the way has distributed over $44,194,000.00 to pediatrics research in Quebec since it's creation in 1977, Scotty began the non stop singing trek. He donated his time, money from his CD sales and acquired sponsors to donate various items for sale to profit the charity. Quebec media covered the event, asking for the public to support the charity and "Foundation" spokesperson Ghislain LeBlanc was on hand the entire time collecting donations and urging fans to support Scotty's endeavors. Ghislain will announce the profits collected for the year on December 5th, 2004 on TQS (Four Seasons TV) at noon. Various media personalities popped in at different times to make sure the rules of setting the Guinness record were followed to the letter.
The LLM crew arrived just prior to Scotty's 32nd hour of singing. He had been pacing himself and surprisingly hadn't come unglued, though by the 34 hr mark, he was visibly very tired. We didn't want to bother him on his next break of only 15 minutes and were prepared to let him grab a quick shower and a bite to eat, but when the time came, so did the news crew from the TV station to interview Scotty! The "pause for the cause" was now over and Scotty was back for another 4 hr round - no shower, no food, a little water and a series of ice-cold hand towels for the nape of his neck and forehead, along with one back message from a friend. LLM left the venue, (Resto Bar Centre Ville, 372 Arthur Sauve Blvd., St. Eustache, Quebec) and was set to return for the final few hours! Would he make it? We'd soon find out!
A little late getting back on the road, LLM arrived and Scotty had just gotten off the stage. Not a whisper came from his voice, he suffered from exhaustion and someone had called the EMTs to check his very low BP. Scotty didn't make the 44 hrs he set out to do, but he did pass the current (albeit disputed) record of 42 hrs, 15 min - by 15 full minutes. The new Guinness world record holder of 42 and 1/2 hours is Quebec's Scotty Davis! Fortunately, his voice returned within two weeks of the event. Congratulations Scotty, you did it!
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