Frank Wilks was incredibly calm for a man about to take to the stage and willingly reveal the great highs and, yes, terrible lows of his own life.

Falling onto a couch next to me, minutes before the start of his one-man show I Am Not Neil Young, the musical, Wilks responded to my question about whether he’s nervous performing without a band.

“Nah. I’ve got the band in a box,” he said, referring to the musical backing tracks he plays along with.

Then he grinned.

“I think I’ll sit here and watch the show.”

I Am Not Neil Young, the musical, part of this year’s Toronto Fringe Festival, tells the story of how Wilks went from a teenage rocker from the Beaches in east-Toronto to touring alongside acts such as the Band and the Guess Who as part of the tribute band Buffalo Springfield Revisited. Wilks played the Young role in the band, a natural fit given that people claim, with eyes closed, they can’t tell whether it’s him or the Canadian rock legend singing.

The musical acts as a metamorphosis, with Wilks shedding the Young identity he’s lived with for so long. Set against a screen that plays old videos and photos of Buffalo Springfield Revisited, as well as those dear to him, Wilks has only his guitars, harmonica, backing tracks and stories.

In the beginning, Wilks plays such Young classics as Heart of Gold, Mr. Soul and The Needle and the Damage Done. Interspersed are recollections of how the ride began: a meeting with Bruce Palmer of the original Buffalo Springfield, forming the band with him and another Springfield alumnus Dewey Martin and then touring and living it up among his heroes.

“This is Frank, the guy who does our songs better than us,” Wilks recalls Steven Stills saying as he introduced him to friends.

Moments of humour, such as when Wilks talks about the time he turned down an offer to become the lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls (“Bruce and I both laughed at the name. Now I could cry.”), or his description of Jerry Lewis after playing at his telethon (“The back of [his] head was so greasy it looked like a duck’s ass.”) add to the light-hearted, straightforward narrative of the show.

But for every rock and roll story, there’s a rock and roll tragedy.

“Whenever a friend of mine died, it was depression time – time to get wasted,” Wilks told the audience. “That part of my life is a blackout.”

Wilks recalls one specific tour when, “Bobby Day, one of the Coasters and someone else died” before it was over. He lost band-mates and friends, and pays tribute to them onstage before discussing his own drug addictions, sleeping in crack houses, his alcoholism and his subsequent recoveries.

By the end of the show, the real Frank Wilks emerges. There is nothing flashy or fancy about him – just a man in his 50’s bobbing up and down as he sings, baring his life before perfect strangers. He caught a lucky break with his vocal and physical resemblance to a rock legend and, while he achieved his greatest fame as someone else, he suffered the pain and loss personally.

“Thanks Neil, for letting me be you for a little while,” Wilks said as he prepared to leave the stage.

I Am Not Neil Young, the musical is a fun, poignant and sometimes cautionary tale for anyone who ever dreamed of growing up to be, quite literally, just like their hero.

I Am Not Neil Young, the musical is playing at “Holy Joe’s” at The Big Bop (651 Queen Street West) until July 12th.