spite the fact that DuCharme had never thought about singing in public.
Their encouragement led to his live debut in October 2022, when he was 12. The show took place at the Italian American Club in Pittsfield with Tommy T. & Black Velvet. The bandleader, Tommy Taglieri, had branched out from solely performing Elvis songs and performed frequently at local dances and events. DuCharme went in and sang a few songs for him before the show so Taglieri
could get a sense of what he sounded like. DuCharme performed over backing tracks to see if he could work with them. Previous to that, he had sung with an Elvis recording or played it on a guitar.
Taglieri was immediately impressed.“ He got out there and started singing like he had been doing it for years,” says Taglieri. He gave the young artist the nod to perform five songs at the show.“ That was my first experience ever performing in front of an audience,” says DuCharme.
Back then, his Elvis look was very simple. He had the sunglasses but not the sideburns or jumpsuits. He paired the sunglasses with a black suit jacket and pants, adding a belt similar to the one that Elvis wore in Aloha from Hawaii. In fact, it was his Halloween costume from the year before. The setlist mixed hits and deep cuts. DuCharme vividly recalls“ Don’ t Be Cruel” as his first song, as well as surprising the crowd with a rare Elvis number— the King’ s version of“ Funny How Time Slips Away.” DuCharme also
Jackson DuCharme channels Elvis Presley with charismatic reverence in each of his live performances.
68 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE Holiday 2023 2025