Often times tribute bands and impersonators don't live up to expectations compared to those they are impersonating. So for a company like Stage West to bring in a tribute act, they have to be good. Ronnie and the Jets, who have been wowing crowds throughout Ontario, bring their Elton John tribute to Stage West July 19th and 20th on a double-bill with Billy Joel impersonation.

Ronnie and the Jets is lead by Ron Camilleri as Elton. With a long history in the music industry, he has the background for success.

"My father worked for CBS Records which turned into Sony music. Since I can remember, I went to all of the shows. My entire family seemed to migrate into the music industry. My brother, who plays drums in the band, went on to be the president of Sony Music and I went on to run Columbia Records. As a young boy I was a guitarist, I remember talking to people like Terry Kath from Chicago, they were my inspiration. One day I decided my favourite artists were Elton John and Billy Joel so I bought a piano and started to teach myself to play it," Camilleri told GayCalgary & Edmonton Magazine.

"When I went into the music industry I didn't really pursue my creative side as much as my administrative side. I always had this thing in the back of my mind that I wanted to return one day. I started with my own studio writing for a TV show called Out There With Melissa DiMarco and it started getting my creative juices flowing. One day my brother called me out of the blue and asked me to start a band for fun. We did some bars and I was playing guitar, but the most magical moment was when I sat down at the piano and played an Elton John classic. The other guitarist suggested we just play Elton John, so I came home and really went through his catalogue. Next thing you know we morphed into Ronnie and the Jets. Once I started playing the Elton John catalogue it was incredible the reaction we were getting, so I decided to do it almost full time. I still write for the show but this is becoming a huge thing, we are getting so many calls including from Stage West saying they were looking for an Elton."

The opportunity to recreate the John/Joel face to face concept was too good to resist.

"I loved the Elton John & Billy Joel tour. It is ironic because I worked with Joel at Columbia and my whole life Elton John has been my idol, and I have never met him. I have been in situations where he should have been there. I've been on that tour and went to several shows but didn't meet him. Now I get a chance to do Billy Joel and Elton John face to face which is something I have always wanted to do. A theatre is the perfect place for this. Festivals are great and playing for 20,000 people is a blast, but when you can see someone who can play this material in a nice setting like a theatre, I would much rather see any artist in a theatre. This is my opportunity now to take Elton John in this Stage West setting and start touring the country and show people what I can do."

Many people don't have the chance to see Elton himself, as ticket prices can be quite high and usually sell out rapidly. Not only is seeing Ronnie & The Jets a good substitute, it is an opportunity to experience John in his prime.

"We just played a huge Canada Day show for 10,000 people. I said I would pose for some photos after and it was half an hour before we cut off the line. Everyone said the same thing, that it was like they were at an Elton John show. The first time I saw Elton John was in 1973 the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour. I saw him in his prime for 10 - 15 years and that is what we try and recreate on stage, the wild Elton from the 1970's and 1980s. He has progressed now into the consummate professional, but he is more or less stationary at the piano. The show is wildly entertaining. We take you back to the wilder side of Elton that got him where he is today. I am still able to hit all the high notes and do some of the rolling around. I can jump around a little bit, I am afraid of jumping on the pianos like he did, he had a little bit more money to replace pianos. Most people have the same reaction - if they close their eyes, they think they are listening to Elton John. They say, you look like him, you sound like him, and you play like him."

His work in the industry has prepared him for all aspects of being a performer himself.

"It is a business. Especially in the entertainment business there are all kinds of characters. You can go into a situation where everyone is completely professional and still have a curve thrown at you. I have seen everything from the small theatre to the 90,000 seat festivals. I have just rolled with it. I have seen some of the business side and financial side of the industry, I know what to expect. From the creative side I am able to talk to anyone at a venue about technical requirements because I am also a producer. I understand everything that has to go on at a show but my job as an entertainer is a little different. In a sense I get to relax more but in the back of my mind I can look at things and see if they will be to my liking. I have a nice well-rounded look at the entire business of putting on a show. I have seen the best performers in the world live and have learned a bit from all of them. I have learned what works with pitter-patter on the stage, what to say, where to go, how to move.

“You watch these artists over the years, and subconsciously I will find myself doing something that Bruce Springsteen did back in 1973 that I have always remembered. Elton was incredible on The Yellow Brick Road tour and I can pull off the handstand he did occasionally. I have had the opportunity to see the best of the best perform and hopefully I am able to pull some of that into the show. I strive for someone to go wow during each show."

Tickets are selling fast for the shows, and attendees can expect an exciting, fun evening of classic Elton John and Billy Joel songs.

"You will see the best of Billy Joel and Elton John. We both put on a pretty solid set of music and play most of the hits. People want to recognize most of the songs. We do get requests for album tracks but for the most part people want to hear the big songs. Everything from Your Song to Saturday Night's (All Right For Fighting). It is going to rock, there will be some nice ballads, a little bit of everything. It is wildly entertaining. When Billy Joel and Elton John got together it was like a marriage made in heaven and we are trying to give people the same experience. It is a really fun show I am so happy to be a part of it."