The music of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison might have been recorded over forty years ago, but it still connects with people around the world. One of those people is Colby Nargang, and the young singer has put together a tribute to the artists, performing their big hits in a wide variety of venues. He'll be performing at the First Baptist Church in Yorkton on Sunday, October 16.
The love of the artists began at a young age for Nargang. He says he was surrounded by their music from when he was a boy, and that lead to him to performing a tribute.
"My grandparents' love of Roy Orbison. They got me into it... I've always had a natural gift to sing, and it went from there... I've always been one of those crazy weirdos with an 8-10 octave vocal range," Nargang says.
One of the advantages of a tribute to Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley is that there is a wide variety of music, something Nargang promises to bring to his performance in the city. He says the artists were a major inspiration just because they recorded in such a large range.
"Those guys were just so versatile with the music they sang. They would do country, and then pop, and early rock and roll, all the way to gospel."
Nargang has Williams Syndrome, which has a wide variety of side effects. For himself, the majority of the effects are physical, he details. He says many people have difficulty reading or writing, and also have difficulty learning in other ways. For himself, he has been mostly spared from learning disabilities, and says that his symptoms are mostly in hand-eye coordination, vision problems and some difficulty doing physical tasks. In some ways it has helped him, and he says that one advantage is in the way he learns music. He adds, that people with the syndrome are often blessed with perfect pitch, and can mimic sounds very well.
"Supposedly I hear music like nobody else," he says.
While predominantly a tribute artist, Nargang is expanding to writing and recording his own music. His first original song, Free From the Pain, was written as a tribute to his grandmother, who was suffering from cancer.
"I started writing the song to help my grandmother keep fighting longer. They say things happen for a reason, and she died before I could finish the end of the song... She died Christmas morning, and between her passing and her memorial, J. J. Voss, my co-writer and producer, said why don't you write about how she's passed on? That's all I needed to finish the song," Nargang says.
He describes the song as a motivational track, and something which can connect to a wide variety of people. He also says that he wants to continue writing and recording original material, and hopes to record an album of his own songs in the future.
For more information on Nargang, or to purchase his music, one can visit his website, www.colbynargang.com. The performance will take place on Sunday, October 16, at the First Baptist Church at 35 Smith Street East.
