Do any of you people who were living in the greater Chicago area in the 1980s remember a group called “Jade 50’s” that had started while in high school in the Oak Park area?  They were then what would now be called a “tribute band” for many of the major groups of the ’50s and ’60s, and worked very hard to get the “sound” of each particular group exactly right.  They played venues in  the Chicago area, as well as coming downstate to Peoria and Bloomington.  In Peoria, Jade 50’s would perform at the Second Chance night club (no longer in existence) and they had such a good following here that they were the group who were booked for several years for the New Year’s Eve show.
 
Their lead singer was Joe Cantafio, and for their second set, he would do a tribute to Elvis, dressed in expensive well-tailored replica costumes, his real hair dyed and cut like Elvis, and a voice, style, look, and mannerisms that were as close as possible to that of the “trim” (not fat) Elvis of anyone I have ever heard.  A friend of mine and I got to know the group pretty well, and we would act as “bodyguards” for Joe Cantafio’s Elvis set when they were in Peoria, helping keep the girls in the audience from climbing up on the stage and supplying Joe with the scarves for him to give out.   Jade 50’s drifted apart after a few more years, and last I heard, Joe was living in Bollingbrook and selling stocks (or something) for banks.