He looks the part and he certainly sounds the part.

Tony Kishman brings his repertoire of Paul McCartney and Beatles music to the Penn’s Peak stage this Saturday on his 2020 “Live and Let Die” tour.

Kishman became an instant fan of the Beatles when he was just 8 years old while watching them perform on the Ed Sullivan Show.

“They were really cool,” he said. “And it was cool that so many girls loved them.”

At 15, Kishman took guitar lessons and started singing in a local Tucson, Arizona, band named “Hemlock.” They played classic rock of groups like Grand Funk Railroad and ZZ Top.

“I knew then that I wanted to follow a dream to be a rock star,” he said. Kishman quit Hemlock to join a top 40 band named “Cheap Trix” after they had heard him sing. His new band performed club circuits in Southern California from 1971-75. He explained that the name of the band was not to be confused with the popular rock group, “Cheap Trick.”

“We actually got a letter from them asking us to change our name.”

Changing direction

Kishman’s time with the local rockers was short-lived when a single phone call would change the direction of his musical life.

“I got a call from an agent representing the Broadway show called, “Beatlemania” in the late ’70s,” he said. “I was recommended to audition for the role of Paul McCartney. Being young and stupid, I first said, ‘I don’t know anything about singing like him.’”

After 12 auditions, Kishman got the part. The fact that he looks so much like McCartney is more coincidence than by design.

“I get mistaken for him wherever I go,” he said. “I recently walked into an Arby’s and the girls behind the counter went running to the back to tell everyone that Paul McCartney just walked in.”

The “Live and Let Die” show features anywhere from a five-piece band to a 60-piece Allentown Symphony that accompanied Kishman in 2018. He has played before audiences of 500 in smaller venues and before crowds 2,500 fans all across the country. He and his band choose from a collection of 200 songs that include Beatles’ classics, “Hey Jude,” “The Magical Mystery Tour” and “Let it Be,” and tunes from the post — Fab Four era that span nearly 60 years.

The music of Paul

Though Kishman has never met McCartney, the world-renowned music icon has met Kishman, well sort of.

“Paul must have seen me perform in Beatlemania,” he explained. “He had said publicly about me, ‘That guy who plays me, that’s weird because I’m still alive. He’s (Kishman) pretty good. I wish him well.”

Kishman did meet Sir George Martin who had extensive involvement in the production of many of the Beatles’ hit songs. “He invited me to visit his studio in England and I went. After I sang for Sir George, he told me he had bad news. He said I sang really well, but I sounded too much like Paul McCartney, “Kishman said with a laugh.

After recording an album on Mercury Records, Kishman realized his originality was “not paying the bills,” so he decided to sing Paul’s songs that have an immediacy with fans who come to his shows.

The “Live and Let Die” tour usually brings along the same musicians to accompany Kishman. They are Chris Holt on bass, piano and guitar, Chris Camilleri on drums, John Merjaze on guitar and for the Penn’s Peak show, Andrew Lubman will play the keyboards.

“All of the band are front men singers, too,” Kishman said.

Asked to select one McCartney song he likes to perform more than the others, he said. “The Long and Winding Road,” explaining that when he sits at the piano and plays, he can truly feel the emotion behind the words. “I have always felt so comfortable with this particular song.”

Kishman looks forward to his first appearance this Saturday night at Penn’s Peak and promises that fans of Paul McCartney will not be disappointed when they listen to their favorite songs from the past half century.

Tickets can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, or at the Penn’s Peak box office. Doors open at 7 p.m. Showtime is at 8.