HUNTSBERRY DISCOVERS POWER OF SILVER SCREEN

Three questions commonly asked by people who have seen Howard Huntsberry’s portrayal of soul singer Jackie Wilson in the movie “La Bamba�:

1--Can he really sing like Wilson?

2--Does he really look like Wilson?

3--Who the heck is this guy, anyway?

The answers:

1--Yes, even his speaking voice recalls the mellifluousness of Wilson’s bubbly lilt.

2--Kind of--all the makeup people had to do was shave his mustache and change his hair a bit for him to approximate the look of the late Wilson in his prime.

3--Huntsberry is a 33-year-old Los Angeles-area native who, as a teen-ager, sang with such name soul acts as Rufus Thomas and the Joe Tex Revue and, with the R&B; group the Klique, had a No. 1 R&B; hit with a remake of Wilson’s “Stop Doggin ‘Me Around� in 1984.

That people even bother to ask questions about someone who had what was a pretty minor role in the film--just one song (“Lonely Teardrops�) and one brief line for a total of about four minutes of screen time--is a tribute both to Huntsberry’s performance and to the power of the silver screen.

“It’s incredible that everybody’s attached to that small role,� Huntsberry said recently in his modest Rosemead apartment, which he anticipates decorating with a platinum copy of the “La Bamba� sound-track album soon. “I’ve gotten more publicity with this than the whole while with Klique.�

What there seems to be no question about, though, is that Huntsberry was born for the part, every bit as much as his co-stars Marshall Crenshaw and Brian Setzer were born to play Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, respectively.

“A lot of that type of performing I do anyway,� Huntsberry said of Wilson’s characteristic singing and dancing traits. The naturalness of the resemblance was instantly clear to the people behind the movie once Huntsberry’s manager dissuaded “La Bamba� executive musical producer Joel Sill from considering the better-known El De Barge and checking out his client first.

Now, as he launches his solo career with an album, “For You,� due in February, the singer is unconcerned about being stereotyped as the guy who does Jackie Wilson.

“Doing Jackie’s stuff has helped me so much that I definitely don’t mind,� he said. “To be compared to a person like that is incredible.�