The Red Elvises were founded in 1995 by two Russian political refugees, singer/songwriter Igor Yuzov and actor/bass-balalaika player Oleg Bernov in Los Angeles, California. Igor and Oleg met during Russia’s Peace Walk and subsequently played together in a Russian folk-rock band called Limpopo. Believing that one can’t go wrong with "The King" Elvis Presley as an inspiration and with "red" being not only Oleg’s favorite color but the national color of their native country, the band name Red Elvises was created. Actually, it is widely believed that Igor came up with the "Red Elvises" name by seeing Elvis come to him in a dream, wearing a red dress! Igor will neither confirm nor deny the truth of that rumor.

The band’s third original member, guitarist Zhenya Kolykhanov (he later legally changed his last name to “Rock”), had also emigrated to America and had been spending time playing in Texas. For the first few months Andrey Baranov was the band’s drummer, but within that year, the first American in the band, drummer Avi Sills from Austin, Texas, was added to the lineup. The four of them got their start playing on Santa Monica’s famed 3rd Street Promenade but became so popular that they were eventually asked to leave. The reason? They drew such huge crowds that the shopkeepers complained it was interfering with business! Soon thereafter the band set forth in its quest for world domination and endless summer nights. Playing countless shows every year, they became known as one of the hardest working bands in show business, as well as being one of the nicest and most accessible.