Elton John tribute artist has passion for music, performing

METRO DETROIT — The beloved singer-songwriter Elton John comes to life through the talent and passion of Captain Fantastic Detroit, an Elton John tribute act.

Ron Foss, also known as the frontman Captain Fantastic, has had an interest in Elton John ever since he was a kid. His career as an Elton John tribute artist started when he played as a duo with his buddy. He played the song “Your Song” from Elton John’s self-titled album.

“He says, ‘Man, you sound like Elton John so much. Well, you just play it by yourself,’ so he backed off,” Foss said. “Eventually he said, ‘You know, you should really start your own Elton band.’”

Another instance occurred when a customer at Guitar Center thought Foss looked like Elton John. When he went to the mall that same day, something similar happened. This all occurred seven years ago.

“So that’s when I knew I should probably start a band,” Foss said.

Captain Fantastic plays in Oakland and Macomb counties, and they’ve played out of state.

Foss found his other bandmates through previous experiences with the members. The first step he took to finding some of the other members, including the bassist, was to post in the Bandmix online classifieds from musicians.

“A local thing where musicians contact each other,” Foss said. “I had a bass player contact me, and then he knew a drummer and a guitar player. We’ve changed up since then. My latest band is really good.”

He went on to say the guitarist, bassist and drummer are all excellent. The current lineup is Jo Jo Moceri, on drums; Larry Socha, on guitar; Shellie Gambino, Foss’ wife, on percussion and backup vocals; and Marty Esselink, on bass.

When Foss was around 6 years old, he started to learn how to play the piano. At 7, he took lessons until he was 14. Foss said when he was around 12, he started to really pay attention to songs on the radio. He also started to delve into music at that time.

“I had some albums my dad had got from a coworker, used albums,” Foss said. “I got a couple of Elton albums from her, and then I liked it so much I bought the ‘(Elton John’s) Greatest Hits.’”

He recalled in 1973, Elton John’s album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” was released.

“When I heard ‘Benny and the Jets,’ that was it for me. I bought the sheet music, and I played that song over and over and over again on the piano,” Foss said.

He went on to say he bought the piano music for the album and learned most of the songs when he was a teenager.

“So, yeah, I’m a big Elton fan,” Foss said.

Foss is thankful for the following the band has gained over the years, and he said they’ve made “quite a name for ourselves.”

When the band plays, the setlist changes and the amount of time they play varies from show to show.

“Because we have so many Elton songs, we have almost three hours of material,” Foss said. “And that’s kind of hard to cut out like half of the setlist when we’re playing (for) an hour and a half. So we have to cut almost an hour and a half of material of Elton songs in order to fit an hour and a half show.”

Foss said they love playing at the St. Clair Shores Music on the Lake dates, and they recently played there in July. They were rained out three times in 2023.

He ordered the 15 costumes he uses for shows online, as well as the eight pairs of Elton-like prescription glasses. Though Foss said some of his costumes are retired, 10 of them are still in the lineup.

Foss said he hopes to meet Elton John one day.

“He is definitely one of my idols,” Foss said. “Great songwriter. Great piano player.”

He tells those who plan on starting a band or who want to do something similar to what he does to persevere. He said to start out, bands should take a video to promote themselves to venues and to potential listeners.

“Find musicians that are going to be dedicated to your band, and just get out there and promote yourself,” Foss said.