Elton John. Billy Joel. Ray Charles. Jerry Lee Lewis. Tom Jones. Willie Nelson. Michael Jackson. Neil Diamond. Mick Jagger. Barry Manilow. Jimmy Keys imitates them all.

But the British piano player and singer does have a favorite.

“I like doing Joe Cocker because he’s so funny,” Keys said during a phone interview from Southampton, Bermuda.

It’s all there. The facial grimaces. The odd arm and hand movements. The voice.

“I tend to stick to the classic people, especially because I do a lot of my shows in Florida where there’s an older crowd; they want to see people they know, so it’s hard to put in anybody modern,” Keys said. “Although there’s not the characters like there used to be, it seems to me. A lot of the classic guys are such characters, they’re fun to do.”

The comedian even did one imitation right in front of the superstar — and made him laugh.

“Rod Stewart. I was doing a party at one of the mansions in Palm Beach down here in Florida and he was at the party, right next to me, in fact,” Keys recalled. “That was quite a lot of fun. At the time, he had his hair darker; I think I looked more like him than he did.”

The musician/comedian will bring his cast of characters to the Ramada Hotel Westgate, 3536 Secor Road, for a dinner show June 5. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner will be at 7 p.m., and the show will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55 and include a dinner buffet and one drink. Reservations are required: (419) 535-7070.

“I do a real variety show, I call it, a bit of dying art, I guess,” Keys said. “I do the comedy, I do

the characters, I do a couple of Broadway pieces.”

He may sport a sequined suit emblazoned with the union jack.

“I use [the suit] now for Prince Charles. I got to meet Princess Anne when she was in Bermuda. I’m glad she didn’t see me doing an impression of her brother. She might have taken my passport away,” Keys quipped.

He hopes people in Toledo are ready to have fun.

“People send me e-mails and say with the economy the way it is, they love to come and forget about all their problems when they’re watching me. Everybody says laughter is the best thing and it really is; it’s a cliché, but it really is.”

On the web: visit www.jimmykeys.com and click on links for more information.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Comedy.
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