Picture this: The year is 1977. The music plays. He steps on the stage. The crowd goes wild! Six feet of jet black hair, sky blue eyes, and that unmistakable voice. But it is October of 1977. The world has just lost the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. His fans still want to hear his music. There is never going to be enough. They want to hear Elvis – Just One More Time. And so, Jack Smink’s Unfinished Business Concerts begin.
As a young man, Jack's unique voice naturally led him to sing Elvis's music. Originally, in 1976, Jack thought it would be fun to sing an Elvis song at a local church festival. His Elvis-like look and voice made the job easy. The crowd loved it and Jack's future as an Elvis Tribute Artist was set. Now he travels throughout the United States, England, and beyond in large and small auditoriums, including a 7 year run at his own Las Vegas style showroom - performing his Unfinished Business Elvis tribute shows for Elvis fans.
During those years, Jack was privileged to meet and work with many of Elvis’s friends, band members, and family. Joe Esposito, JD Sumner, DJ Fontana, Dick Grob, Sherrill Neilson, The Sweet Inspirations, and many more. A few of those meetings have turned into cherished friendships. Some have appeared with Jack and his band as special guests, always sharing stories of time they spent with Elvis.
Not only has Jack worked with these great folk, but he has also worked with other names in the entertainment world.
Bill Rock was the voice of the promotional announcements for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Weekend Nightly with Brian Williams and Meet the Press with Tim Russert. He was the exclusive announcer for Weekend Magazine with Stone Phillips on MSNBC. His voice has been on promotional announcements for Dateline, the 'Today' show plus numerous promos for CNBC and MSNBC. Today he can be heard on the NBC television network throughout the day as the announcer for programs like, The Biggest Loser, Law and Order, School Pride, Days of our lives, Tonight All night, Fallon All Night, The Event, 30 Rock, Parenthood, America's Got Talent and Saturday Night Live, just to name a few.
In January 2010, Bill Rock joined Jack at The King Center in Melbourne, Florida Bill is known for his distinctive and highly recognizable voice on many prime time and daytime NBC television shows. He is also a well-known WOR (NBC) radio personality, and, in the Elvis world, hosts Saturday Night with Bill Rock/Soundtrack Saturday Night, a 5-hour weekly event – all Elvis every Saturday night at 7:00 PM eastern time. A highlight of Bill’s visit was when he picked up his saxophone and joined Jack’s LST Band for a memorable version of Polk Salad Annie! The band convinced him to hang around on stage for the remainder of the show!! Of course, Bill didn’t need a lot of arm twisting and played every song without missing a note! We look forward to a return visit in the near future.
Jack’s most memorable shows to date were on August 18, 1999 and August 17, 2002. Elvis was to perform at the Cumberland County Civic Center on those dates in 1977, but passed away just as he prepared to leave for Portland. Jack traveled to Maine to perform a concert to somehow help the community have some closure on the concert that never was. The 1999 concert was a magical night that the crowd would not let end. TV, radio, and newspaper crews told of how Jack "captivated the audience" with the voice and music that they had missed so many years before. Then, in 2002, thousands of Elvis fans returned to the Cumberland County Civic Center to see Jack and his LST Band remember Elvis Just One More Time.
During the time just before the 2002 show, Jack appeared on the CBS Early Show. The night before his TV appearance, Jack had a dream about Elvis. The dream began to take shape into what is now his own musical dedication to Elvis entitled Just One More Time. Written and produced by Jack and two of his band members, with background vocals by the legendary Jordanaires, this hauntingly beautiful tribute tells of the wish of many Elvis fans – to hear Elvis return and sing to his fans Just One More Time.
You can send Jack an email at:
jack[at]jacksmink[dot]com