Heartbreak: Elvis tribute artist has guitars stolen from storage unit
When Elvis Presley tribute artist Donny Edwards went to his Las Vegas storage unit to drop off some costumes a few weeks ago, something seemed amiss. That’s when he discovered his six replica guitars and a bass guitar were missing.
Thieves had broken into the unit and swiped the instruments he uses in his act to perform Elvis’ songs from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, but they left his speakers, monitors and costumes behind, Edwards said.
“They only took my guitars and my friend’s bass,” said Edwards, a Las Vegas resident since 2003. “Luckily I found some of the serial numbers in case something pops up at a pawnshop or something.”
Edwards notified Metropolitan Police Department on April 6 to report the burglary at CubeSmart Self Storage at 2700 E. Flamingo Road, according to a police report.
He estimated his property’s worth at about $11,000, police said.
Edwards said he learned that the front gate to the units, accessed by a key code, was stuck open and that suspects had gained entry to many other units there.
“It’s crazy, man,” he said. “They (the business) wouldn’t let us see the (surveillance) footage, the manager was out of town and the lights in the back weren’t working.”
Efforts to reach CubeSmart by phone and email on Wednesday and Thursday were unsuccessful.
Edwards, 48, who has been an Elvis artist for two decades, collected the replica guitars over the years to strum during stage appearances worldwide, including in Canada, Japan, Australia, South America and his native Texas.
He’s been a regular showroom headliner at the South Point in Las Vegas, where he said his 28-song shows have sold out since 2015.
Among the guitars he listed on the police report is an Elvis Presley Hall of Fame Signature Black Dove Gibson replica, valued at $3,100, and a 1950s-style guitar — valued at $2,000 — that was signed on the back for him in 2009 by the late DJ Fontana, Presley’s drummer from 1955 to 1969 and who went on tour with Edwards to perform Presley’s music.
Others include the Elvis Presley Replica guitar Edwards purchased at Graceland, Presley’s home in Memphis, Tennessee, valued at about $1,100, and a Hagstrom Viking Model made in 1965, worth about $2,100, he said.
Despite the losses, Edwards isn’t worried as he prepares for his upcoming show in Sacramento on Sunday.
“I have a friend who is going to let me use his guitars,” he said. “He’s got a good collection.”
And one of his fans who learned of the burglary sent him a replica Elvis guitar from Graceland, he added.
“You get spiteful, but you also have some people who come to your aid,” Edwards said.
Contact Jeff Burbank at jburbank@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0382. Follow him @JeffBurbank2 on Twitter.
