For decades, Craig van Batenburg has owned an auto mechanic shop in Worcester and taught classes on electric vehicles across the United States. In the 1980s, he picked up a surprising side gig: impersonating Elton John onstage. Van Batenburg sat down with Last Call to share some tales from his years as Sir Elton.

Tell us the story of how you became a professional Elton John impersonator.

In 1985, I was newly divorced. I had a long beard and a mustache, and I was an old hippie. I shaved off my beard and mustache and cut my hair. Maybe a week later, with this newly found face of mine, a woman comes in [to my shop] and says, “You know, you look like Elton John." I went back through all the old Elton John albums I had and stood in front of the mirror, holding the albums up next to my face.

It wasn't long after that that Elton John came to the Centrum. A buddy of mine fixed me up with a date, and she said, "Let's have you dress up like Elton John." I parked my car, we went and had dinner at a hotel, and then the fun started. That hotel was where Elton John was staying. People started asking me for autographs, and the car was stuck in the garage, and the Centrum was a mile off. I went to the desk dressed like Elton John and ask if they can call me a taxi, and they called his limousine. I got the job that night working for the Impostor Bostonian, which hired impersonators.

What was touring with an impersonator show like?

For about 10 years, we worked together. The Impostor Bostonian had a show of maybe 10 or 12 impersonators who went on the road. I play trombone, so I had to fake it on piano. They played the music, and I don't remember the first song, but the second one was “Candle in the Wind.” I would stand up, and this beautiful Marilyn Monroe impersonator would come out and kiss me on the cheek, and then she would do a few songs. WRCH, a radio station in Hartford, hired me multiple times. They'd have me do impersonations for parties and shows. They actually got themselves in trouble with Elton John once because they didn't tell anyone I was an impersonator.

What goes into “getting into character” as a real person?

For me, it's just learning the lyrics. I'm not great at remembering stuff. That's why I like singing live, because if you lip sync, and you don't know the lyrics, you look stupid. If I didn't know the lyrics, I'd just improvise. You can’t be embarrassed. You have to walk out onstage knowing that you'll have a good time, and you hope the audience does. You have to have a lot of self-esteem. The resemblance is pretty weird. I even have a space in my front teeth, and my lower earlobes are the same. I'll typically not try to keep the act going forever, but I can speak with a British accent and I know a lot of his music. I could fool a whole lot of people, and I have.

Can you share some of the stories you have from your impersonator days?

One day, five of my auto mechanics came up and asked if I was gay, and I said, does it matter? I had to sit down with them and explain that I'm not gay, I do dress like Elton John, but I was just taking a break from dating. I kept the outfits at work. When one of my regulars was coming over to pick up his car, he called me and said he had two friends from the Netherlands who loved Elton John, so that particular day, I put on his music in the waiting room, I changed into my full costume, and I walked into the waiting room like that to have him pay his bill. They were flabbergasted.

[My wife] Deb loves Rod Stewart, and he was playing in the round in Boston, and we got great tickets. What do I do? I dress up like Elton John. We go with a couple of friends who have never seen me dressed up, and we get in and sit down. Rod Stewart comes out and sings one song, and then says, "Hold on. I'm going to find out if Elton John came to my concert." He comes out and asks me during his concert if I'm Elton John, and I tell him it doesn't matter who I am, but that my wife is a big fan of his.

Have you ever met the real Elton John?

I've had opportunities three times. The first time I had a chance was the first concert at the Centrum. I went back to the hotel since my car was in the parking lot, and we were dancing and having a few drinks. This crazy blonde girl was tugging at my jacket, and I was annoyed, because I had kind of put the moves on my date, and this other girl was harassing me on the dance floor. She said she was Elton John's hairdresser. We chatted for a bit, and she said that Elton John had to meet me. He had the whole ninth floor of the hotel, and she brought us upstairs, but Elton John had already gone to bed, and nobody wakes him up.

The second time, a customer of mine near Boston called me saying she had tickets for Billie Jean King's tennis match and that she would leave the tickets in my drop box at my shop, since she had to leave town. I went in there, and I was dressed like Elton John for the fun of it, and Elton John walked within 30 feet of me. I stopped and looked at him, and he stopped and looked at me.

The third time is even more insane. I teach people how to work on electric cars. I'm teaching in Los Angeles in the fall of 2004, when the Prius had just been redesigned, and I'm flying back and forth doing a lot of training. I start the class and there are two young kids in their early 20s who are talking. I give them a dirty look, and they keep talking. I ask them what they’re talking about that's more important than teaching the class. One of them says he's the son of Elton John's drummer, Nigel Olsson. This kid gave me his cellphone number, and I lost the number.

You’ve said that you spent about 10 years performing. Why did you leave that gig?

If the Elton John stuff comes up, I can do it, but the days of rehearsing are gone. You get 24 hours in a day, and I had to be clear in what I could do for society that was really important.