Elvis Presley part 4

Surge in recording

In January 1970, Presley returned to the International Hotel for a month-long engagement, performing two shows a night. RCA recorded some shows and the best material appeared on the album On Stage - February 1970. In late February, Presley performed six more attendance-breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome in Texas. In August at the International Hotel, MGM filmed rehearsal and concert footage for a documentary: Elvis - That's The Way It Is. He wore a jumpsuit—a garment that would become a trademark of Presley's live performances in the 1970s. Although he had new hit singles in many countries, some were critical of his song choices and accused him of being distant from trends within contemporary music.

Around this time Presley was threatened with kidnapping at the International Hotel. Phone calls were received, one demanding $50,000; if unpaid, Presley would be killed by a "crazy man". The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Presley went on stage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 in his waistband, but nothing untoward transpired. (The singer had had many threats of varying degrees since the fifties, many of them made without the singer's knowledge).

After closing his Las Vegas engagement on September 7, Presley embarked on his first concert tour since 1958. Feeling exhausted, Presley spent a month relaxing and recording before touring again in October and November. He would tour extensively in the U.S. up to his death; many of the 1,145 concerts setting attendance records.

On December 21, 1970, Presley met with President Richard Nixon at the White House (Presley arrived with a gift—a handgun. It was accepted but not presented for security reasons). Presley had engineered the encounter to express his patriotism, his contempt for the hippie drug culture and his wish to be appointed a "Federal Agent at Large". He also wished to obtain a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge to add to similar items he had begun collecting. He offered to "infiltrate hippie groups" and claimed that The Beatles had "made their money, then gone back to England where they fomented anti-American feeling." Ringo Starr later said he found it very sad to think Presley held such views. "This is Mr. Hips, the man, and he felt we were a danger. I think that the danger was mainly to him and his career." Paul McCartney said also that he "felt a bit betrayed ... The great joke was that we were taking drugs, and look what happened to [Elvis]. ... It was sad, but I still love him. ..." Nixon was uncertain and bemused by their encounter, and twice expressed his concern to Presley that the singer needed to "retain his credibility".

On January 16, 1971 Presley was named 'One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation' by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce (The Jaycees). That summer, the City of Memphis named part of Highway 51 South "Elvis Presley Boulevard".

Marital difficulties and Aloha from Hawaii

In April 1972, MGM again filmed Presley, this time for Elvis on Tour, which won a 1972 Golden Globe for Best Documentary. A 14-date tour started with an unprecedented four consecutive sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, New York. RCA taped the shows for a live album. After the tour, the single "Burning Love" was released—Presley's last top ten hit in the U.S. charts.

Off stage, Presley had continuing problems. He and Priscilla became increasingly distant due to Elvis being on the road so much. It was widely reported that he had cheated on her both before and after they married. In spite of his own infidelity, Presley was furious that Priscilla was having an affair with a mutual acquaintance—Mike Stone, a karate instructor she had met in 1971 backstage at one of Presley's concerts. It was Presley himself who first suggested Priscilla should take lessons from Stone. Once the news of their affair came to his attention, he raged obsessively: "There's too much pain in me ... Stone [must] die. A bodyguard, "Red West, felt compelled to get a price for a contract killing and was relieved when Presley decided: "Aw hell ... Maybe it's a bit heavy ..." Priscilla later admitted in her book Elvis and Me that she had also had a previous short affair with her private dance instructor in 1968. The couple separated on February 23, 1972, after 13 years together. Presley lived with Linda Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, from July 1972 until just a few months before his death.

In January 1973, Presley and his wife filed for divorce. That same month, he performed two charity concerts in Hawaii for the Kui Lee cancer foundation in connection with a groundbreaking TV special. The first concert, on January 12, was primarily a practice run; it also served as a backup if technical problems affected the subsequent live broadcast. Aired as scheduled on January 14, Aloha from Hawaii was the first global live concert satellite broadcast, reaching approximately 1.5 billion viewers in real time. The show, budgeted at a record $2.5 million, raised $85,000—more than three times what had been anticipated. Presley's outfit became the most recognized example of the elaborate concert costumes with which his latter-day persona became closely associated. As described by Bobbie Ann Mason, "At the end of the show, when he spreads out his American Eagle cape, with the full stretched wings of the eagle studded on the back, he becomes a god figure." The accompanying album, released in February, went to number one, spending a year on the charts. It proved to be Presley's last U.S. number 1 pop album during his lifetime.

1973–77: Health deterioration and death

Medical crises and last studio sessions

In March 1973, Presley and Parker negotiated a deal with RCA that resulted in Presley receiving a lump sum payment of $5.4 million in lieu of all future performance royalties for any songs he had recorded up to that time. Presley, however, would retain any future performance royalties on material recorded after March 1973. Due to the terms of the contract that Presley had with his manager, Parker received 50 percent of the payment. Jack Soden of Elvis Presley Enterprises later described the deal as "right up there with the Indians selling Manhattan for $24"; in 1980 a lawyer for the Presley estate asserted that Parker and RCA were "probably guilty of collusion, conspiracy, fraud [and] misrepresentation."

Elvis and Priscilla Presley were divorced on October 9, 1973, agreeing to share custody of their daughter. After the divorce, Presley became increasingly unwell, with prescription drugs affecting his health, mood and his stage act. His diet had always been unhealthy, and he now had significant weight problems. He overdosed twice on barbiturates, spending three days in a coma in his hotel suite after the first. According to Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley's main physician, the singer was "near death" in November 1973 because of side effects of Demerol addiction. Nichopoulos notes that the subsequent hospital admission "was crazy", because of the enormous attention Presley attracted, and the measures necessary to protect his medical details. Lab technicians were even exploiting Presley's ill-health by selling samples of his blood and urine.

In his book, Elvis: The Final Years, Jerry Hopkins writes: "Elvis' health plummeted as his weight ballooned." At a University of Maryland concert on September 27 (1974), band members"had trouble recognizing him.... 'He walked on stage and held onto the mike for the first thirty minutes like it was a post. Everybody was scared.' Guitarist John Wilkinson ... recalled, ... 'He was all gut. He was slurring. ... It was obvious he was drugged, that there was something terribly wrong with his body. It was so bad, the words to the songs were barely intelligible.... We were in a state of shock.' "

Despite this, his "thundering" live version of "How Great Thou Art" won him a Grammy award in 1974. Presley won three competitive Grammys for his gospelHe Touched Me (1972). (He had fourteen nominations during his career, though it has been claimed that "Elvis has never been adequately appreciated by those who give the Grammies.") recordings: "How Great Thou Art"—the album, as well as the single—and for the album

In April 1974, rumors began that he would actually be playing overseas after years of offers. A $1,000,000 bid came in from a source in Australia for him to tour there, but Colonel Parker was uncharacteristically reluctant to accept such large sums. This prompted those closest to Presley to speculate about Parker's past and circumstances, and the reasons for his apparent unwillingness to apply for a passport to travel abroad. He set aside any notions Presley had of overseas work by citing poor security in other countries, and the lack of suitable venues for a star of his status. Presley apparently accepted such excuses, at the time.

Presley continued to play to sell-out crowds in the U.S.; a 1975 tour ended with a concert in Pontiac, Michigan, attended by over 62,000 fans. However, the singer now had "no motivation to lose his extra poundage... he became self-conscious... his self-confidence before the audience declined... Headlines such as 'Elvis Battles Middle Age' and 'Time Makes Listless Machine of Elvis' were not uncommon."Liberace. Even his fans were now middle-aged matrons and blue-haired grandmothers,... Mother's Day became a special holiday for Elvis' fans." According to Marjorie Garber, when Presley made his later appearances in Las Vegas, he appeared "heavier, in pancake make-up... with an elaborate jewelled belt and cape, crooning pop songs to a microphone ... [He] had become

On July 13, 1976, Presley's father fired "Memphis Mafia" bodyguards Red West, Sonny West and David Hebler. All three were taken by surprise, especially the Wests, who had been with Presley since the beginning of his career. Presley was away in Palm Springs when it happened, and some suggest the singer was too cowardly to face them himself. Vernon Presley cited the need to "cut back on expenses" when dismissing the three, but David Stanley has claimed they were really fired because of becoming more outspoken about Presley's drug dependency. A "trusted associate" of Presley, John O'Grady, also stated, in agreement with Parker and Vernon Presley, that the bodyguards "were too rough with the fans... resulting in a lot of unnecessary lawsuits" and lawyers' fees. The Wests and Hebler would later write a devastating indictment of Presley, notably his drug-taking, in the book: Elvis: What Happened?, published August 1, 1977.

Almost throughout the 1970s, Presley's recording label had been increasingly concerned about making money from Presley material: RCA Victor often had to rely on live recordings because of problems getting him to attend studio sessions. A mobile studio was occasionally sent to Graceland in the hope of capturing an inspired vocal performance. Once in a studio, he could lack interest or be easily distracted; often this was linked to his health and drug problems.

Final year and death

In 2006, a journalist recalled: "Elvis Presley had [in 1977] become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self... he was barely able to pull himself through his abbreviated concerts." In Alexandria, Louisiana, the singer was on stage for less than an hour and "was impossible to understand." In Baton Rouge, Presley failed to appear: he was unable to get out of his hotel bed, and the rest of the tour was cancelled. In Knoxville, Tennessee on May 20, "there was no longer any pretence of keeping up appearances. The idea was simply to get Elvis out on stage and keep him upright..." Despite his obvious problems, shows in Omaha, Nebraska and Rapid City, South Dakota were recorded for an album and a CBS-TV special: Elvis In Concert.

In Rapid City, "he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk... He was undoubtedly painfully aware of how he looked, and he knew that in his condition, he could not perform any significant movement." His performance in Omaha "exceeded everyone's worst fears... [giving] the impression of a man crying out for help ..." According to Guralnick, fans "were becoming increasingly voluble about their disappointment, but it all seemed to go right past Elvis, whose world was now confined almost entirely to his room and his [spiritualism] books." A cousin, Billy Smith, recalled how Presley would sit in his room and chat, recounting things like his favorite Monty Python sketches and his own past japes, but "mostly there was a grim obsessiveness... a paranoia about people, germs... future events", that reminded Smith of Howard Hughes.

The book Elvis: What Happened? was the first exposé to detail Presley's years of drug misuse, and served as the authors' revenge for them being fired, as well a plea to get Presley to recognize the extent of his drug problems. The singer "was devastated by the book. Here were his close friends who had written serious stuff that would affect his life. He felt betrayed."

Presley's final performance was in Indianapolis at the Market Square Arena, on June 26, 1977. According to many of his entourage who accompanied him on tour, it was the "best show he had given in a long time" with "some strong singing".

Another tour was scheduled to begin August 17, 1977, but at Graceland the day before, Presley was found unresponsive on the floor of his suite by fiancée, Ginger Alden, and attempts to revive the singer failed. Death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at the Baptist Memorial Hospital.

Before his funeral, hundreds of thousands of fans, the press and celebrities lined the streets and many hoped to see the open casket in Graceland. One of Presley's cousins, Billy Mann, accepted $18,000 to secretly photograph the corpse; the picture duly appeared on the cover of the National Enquirer, making it the largest and fastest selling issue of all time. Two days after the singer's death, a car plowed into a group of 2000 fans outside Presley's home, killing two women and critically injuring a third. Among the mourners at the funeral were Ann-Margret (who had remained close to Presley) and his ex-wife. U.S. President Jimmy Carter issued a statement.

On Thursday, August 18, following a funeral service at Graceland, Elvis Presley was buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, next to his mother. After an attempt to steal the body on August 28, and with no signs of security concerns at the cemetery abating, his—and his mother's—remains were reburied at Graceland in the Meditation Garden in October.

Since 1977

In 1982, Graceland was officially opened to the public and has become one of the most visited tourist attractions in the USA. As a private home it is reportedly second only to the White House when it comes to visitor numbers.

Presley has been inducted into four music 'Halls of Fame': the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (1997), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music’s first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards’ first posthumous presentation of the Award of Merit.

In 1994, the 40th anniversary of Presley's "That's All Right" was recognized with its re-release, which made the charts worldwide, making top three in the UK.During the 2002 World Cup a Junkie XL remix of his "A Little Less Conversation" (credited as "Elvis Vs JXL") topped the charts in over twenty countries and was included in a compilation of Presley's U.S. and UK number one hits, Elv1s: 30.

In 2005, three re-issued singles again went to number one ("Jailhouse Rock", "One Night"/"I Got Stung" and "It's Now or Never") in the UK. Throughout the year, twenty singles were re-issued—all making top five. In the same year, Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning deceased celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the preceding year. In mid-2006, top place was taken by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain after the sale of his song catalogue, but Presley reclaimed the top spot in 2007.

Questions over cause of death

Presley had developed many health problems during his life, some of them chronic. Opinions differ regarding the onset of his drug abuse. He did take amphetamines regularly in the army; it has been claimed that pills of some form were first given to him by Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips, but Presley's friend Lamar Fike has said: "Elvis got his first uppers from what he stole from his mother. Gladys was given Dexedrine to help her with her 'change of life' problems."junkie getting something off the street. He... thought that as far as medications and drugs went, there was something for everything." Priscilla Presley saw "problems in Elvis' life, all magnified by taking prescribed drugs." Presley's physician, Dr. Nichopoulos, has said: "[Elvis] felt that by getting [pills] from a doctor, he wasn't the common everyday

According to Guralnick: "[D]rug use was heavily implicated... no one ruled out the possibility of anaphylactic shock brought on by the codeine pills... to which he was known to have had a mild allergy." In two lab reports filed two months later, each indicated "a strong belief that the primary cause of death was polypharmacy," with one report "indicating the detection of fourteen drugs in Elvis' system, ten in significant quantity."

The medical profession has been seriously questioned. Medical Examiner Dr. Jerry Francisco had publicly offered a cause of death while the autopsy was still being performed, but before toxicology results were known. Dr. Francisco dubiously stated that cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of death, a condition that can only be determined in a living person—not post mortem. Many doctors had been flattered to be associated with Presley (or had been bribed with gifts) and supplied him with pills, which simply fed his addictions. The singer allegedly spent at least $1 million annually during his latter years on drugs and doctors' fees or inducements. Although Dr. Nichopoulos was exonerated with regard to Presley's death, "In the first eight months of 1977 alone, he had [prescribed] more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics: all in Elvis' name. On January 20, 1980, the board found [against] him... but decided that he was not unethical [because he claimed he'd been trying to wean the singer off the drugs]." His license was suspended. In July 1995, it was permanently revoked after it was found he had improperly dispensed drugs to several patients including Jerry Lee Lewis.

In 1994, the autopsy into Presley's death was re-opened. Coroner Dr. Joseph Davis declared: "There is nothing in any of the data that supports a death from drugs [i.e. drug overdose]. In fact, everything points to a sudden, violent heart attack." However, there is little doubt that polypharmacy/Combined Drug Intoxication caused his premature death.

Controversy and cultural impact

When "That's All Right" was played, many listeners were sure Presley must be black, prompting white disc-jockeys to ignore his Sun singles. However, black disc-jockeys did not want anything to do with any record they knew was made by a white man. To many black adults, Presley had undoubtedly "stolen" or at least "derived his style from the Negro rhythm-and-blues performers of the late 1940s" though such criticism ignored Presley's use of "white" musical styles. Some black entertainers, notably, Jackie Wilson, argued: "A lot of people have accused Elvis of stealing the black man’s music, when in fact, almost every black solo entertainer copied his stage mannerisms from Elvis."

To many white adults, the singer was "the first rock symbol of teenage rebellion. ... they did not like him, and condemned him as depraved. Anti-negro prejudice doubtless figured in adult antagonism. Regardless of whether parents were aware of the Negro sexual origins of the phrase 'rock 'n' roll', Presley impressed them as the visual and aural embodiment of sex." In 1956, a critic for the New York Daily News wrote that popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley" and the Jesuits denounced him in their weekly magazine, America. Even Frank Sinatra opined: "His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac. It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people." Presley responded to this (and other derogatory comments Sinatra made) by saying: "I admire the man. He has a right to say what he wants to say. He is a great success and a fine actor, but I think he shouldn't have said it... This ... [rock and roll] ... is a trend, just the same as he faced when he started years ago."

According to the FBI files on the singer, Presley was even seen as a "definite danger to the security of the United States." His actions and motions were called "a strip-tease with clothes on" or "sexual self-gratification on stage." They were compared with "masturbation or riding a microphone." Some saw the singer as a sexual pervert, and psychologists feared that teenaged girls and boys could easily be "aroused to sexual indulgence and perversion by certain types of motions and hysteria—the type that was exhibited at the Presley show." Presley would insist, however, that there was nothing vulgar about his stage act, saying: "Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do ‘em all together, I guess." In August 1956, a Florida judge called Presley a "savage" and threatened to arrest him if he shook his body while performing in Jacksonville. The judge declared that Presley's music was undermining the youth of America. Throughout the performance (which was filmed by police), he kept still as ordered, except for wiggling a finger in mockery at the ruling. (Presley recalls this incident during the '68 Comeback Special.)

In 1957, despite Presley's demonstrable respect for "black" music and performers, he faced accusations of racism. He was alleged to have said in an interview: "The only thing Negro people can do for me is to buy my records and shine my shoes." An African American journalist at Jet magazine subsequently pursued the story. On the set of Jailhouse Rock, Presley denied saying, or ever wanting to make, such a racist remark. The Jet journalist found no evidence that the remark had ever been made, but did find testimony from many individuals indicating that Presley was anything but racist. Despite the remark being wholly discredited at the time, it was still being used against Presley decades later.

Critical voices

Despite Presley's popularity, there were also more critical voices to be heard. For instance, acknowledgment of the singer’s vocal style had been reduced to mocking the hiccuping, vocalese tricks that he had used on some early recordings—and to the way he said "Thankyouverymuch" after songs during live shows. On June 11, 1956, Time magazine ironically referred to him as "dreamboat Groaner Elvis ("Hi luh-huh-huh-huv-huv yew-hew") Presley". There was also the reproach that Presley "was an untrained musician who played [guitar and piano] entirely by ear. 'I don't read music,' he confessed, 'but I know what I like.' ... Because he was not a songwriter, Presley [would] rarely [have] material prepared for recording sessions..." When later, as a young singer, he "ventured into the recording studio he was heavily influenced by the songs he had heard on the jukebox and radio."

Though Presley's early music and live performances are credited with helping to lay a commercial foundation which allowed established black music acts of the 1950s to receive due recognition, some saw the singer as a white man who 'stole black music'.

His latter-day song choices had been seen as poor; many who disliked Presley had long been dismissive because he did not write his own songs. Such criticism of Presley continues. Later, newspaper reports ridiculed his obesity and his kitschy, jump-suited performances. Comedian George Carlin remarked, "America got what it deserved in Elvis Presley: a big fat, drug-addicted squealer." Sade Adu said about Presley: "when I see him in his fifties movies, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, that's an image I desire to look like. But when he's in his jumpsuit I just think of him as a drag queen." His sixties' film career, which started shortly after his military service, was mocked, too. In 1980, John Lennon said: "[Presley] died when he went into the army. That's when they killed him, that's when they castrated him."

Even Presley’s reputation as the most successful popular singer of his day has been doubted. Though he has featured prominently in a variety of polls and surveys designed to measure popularity and influence, sociologist Philip Ennis writes: "Perhaps it is an error of enthusiasm to freight Elvis Presley with too heavy a historical load" because, according to an opinion poll of high school students in 1957, Pat Boone was nearly the "two-to-one favorite over Elvis Presley among boys and preferred almost three-to-one by girls..." In a poll conducted by VH1 on the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock’n’Roll, David Bowie is ranked higher than Presley.

Biographer Ernst Jorgensen has observed that when Presley died, "it was as if all perspective on his musical career was somehow lost." Author Samuel Roy has argued: "Elvis' death did occur at a time when it could only help his reputation. Just before his death, Elvis had been forgotten by society." This was only countered by the uncritical adulation of die-hard fans, who had even denied that he looked "fat" before he died. Any wish to understand Elvis Presley—his genuine abilities and his real influence—"seemed almost totally obscured."

Influence of Colonel Parker and others

By 1967, Colonel Tom Parker had negotiated a contract that gave him 50% of Presley's earnings. Parker's excessive gambling—and his subsequent need to have Presley signed up to commercially lucrative contracts—may well have adversely affected the course of Presley's career. Parker's concerns about his own U.S. citizenship (he was a Dutch immigrant) may have also been a factor in Parker and the singer never exploiting Presley's popularity abroad.

It has been claimed that Presley's original band was fired in order to isolate the singer: Parker wanted no one close to Presley to suggest that a better management deal might exist. However, other sources report the band members left voluntarily because of poor pay, a lack of regular work and being banned from doing any solo projects (they sent letters of resignation to Presley himself). This led to Presley using more experienced musicians for his second homecoming show in Tupelo, but after being dissatisfied with the "sound and feel" of the performance, Parker arranged new terms with Moore and Black a week later.

Due to Parker's deal with Hill & Range in 1955, Presley apparently disliked several songs he sang— even some of the earliest top sellers he became famous for (which suggests commercial influences were sometimes greater than his own desires). Presley's friend Jerry Schilling relates that one way to really annoy the singer was to play a song, like "All Shook Up", on a jukebox at one of his private parties. "Get that crap off," was his typical reaction.

Parker's role in Presley's marriage to Priscilla is disputed. Some say that he persuaded Presley to get married for publicity reasons, whilst others insist that Presley made the decision to marry on his own. Parker is reported to have organized the wedding. It "was rushed", and the guest list was "savagely brief" which led to a few of Presley's entourage being upset at their exclusion. The honeymoon, too, is alleged to have been disrupted by Parker. Presley and Priscilla wanted a European honeymoon, but Parker persuaded him that his fans "over there would be disappointed" if he went there without performing.

In 1969, record producer Chips Moman and Presley recorded with Moman's own musicians at his American Sound Studios in Memphis. Given the control exerted by RCA and the music publishers, this was a significant departure. Moman still had to deal with Hill and Range staff on site and was not happy with their song choices. Moman could only get the best out of the singer when he threatened to quit the sessions and asked Presley to remove the "aggravating" publishing personnel from the studio. RCA Victor executive Joan Deary was later full of praise for the song choices and superior results of Moman's work, like "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds", but despite this, no producer was to override Hill and Range's control again.

According to life-long friend and "Memphis Mafia" member George Klein, over the years Presley was offered lead roles in the film Midnight Cowboy and in West Side Story. Robert Mitchum personally offered him the lead in Thunder Road. In 1974, Barbra Streisand approached Presley to star with her in the remake of A Star is Born. In each case, any ambitions the singer may have had to play such parts were thwarted by his manager's negotiating demands, or his flat refusals.

Marty Lacker regarded Parker as a "hustler and scam artist" who abused Presley's trust, but Lacker acknowledged that Parker was a master promoter. Priscilla Presley noted that "Elvis detested the business side of his career. He would sign a contract without even reading it."

Presley's father in turn distrusted Lacker and the other members of the "Memphis Mafia"; he thought they collectively exercised an unhealthy influence over his son. "It was no wonder" that as the singer "slid into addiction and torpor, no one raised the alarm: to them, Elvis was the bank, and it had to remain open." Musician Tony Brown noted the urgent need to reverse Presley's declining health as the singer toured in the mid-1970s. "But we all knew it was hopeless because Elvis was surrounded by that little circle of people... all those so-called friends and... bodyguards." In the "Memphis Mafia"'s defence, Marty Lacker has said: "[Presley] was his own man. ... If we hadn't been around, he would have been dead a lot earlier."

Larry Geller became Presley's hairdresser in 1964. Unlike others in the "Memphis Mafia", Geller was interested in 'spiritual studies', and was subsequently viewed with suspicion and scorn by the singer's manager and friends. He then poured out his heart in "an almost painful rush of words and emotions," telling Geller about his mother and the hollowness of his Hollywood life, things he could not share with anyone around him. Thereafter, Presley voraciously read books Geller supplied, on religion and mysticism. Perhaps most tellingly, he revealed to Geller: "I swear to God, no one knows how lonely I get and how empty I really feel."
From their first conversation, Geller recalls how Presley revealed his secret thoughts and anxieties, how "there's got to be a reason... why I was chosen to be Elvis Presley." Presley would be preoccupied by such matters for much of his life, taking trunkloads of books with him on tour.

Sex symbol

Presley's sexual appeal and photogenic looks have been acknowledged: for example, director Steve Binder, not a fan of Presley's music at the time, recalled from the '68 Comeback Special (when Presley was fit and tanned): "I'm straight as an arrow and I got to tell you, you stop, whether you're male or female, to look at him. He was that good looking. And if you never knew he was a superstar, it wouldn't make any difference; if he'd walked in the room, you'd know somebody special was in your presence."

According to Marjorie Garber, a "male rock critic writing in 1970 praised Elvis as 'The master of the sexual simile, treating his guitar as both phallus and girl.'" Rumor even "had it that into his skin-tight jeans was sewn a lead bar to suggest a weapon of heroic proportions." She cites a boyhood friend of Presley's who claims the singer actually used a cardboard toilet roll tube to make it "look to the girls up front like he had one helluva thing there inside his pants." By way of explanation, it has been stated that the singer did this in order "to earn more shrieks from the crowd for his pelvic gyrations." Though others considered these rumors little more than urban legends something like a coke bottle was clearly visible down Presley’s pants in the Steve Allen and Milton Berle shows.

Accounts of Presley's numerous sexual conquests may be exaggerated.^[252][253]Cybill Shepherd reveals that Presley kissed her all over her naked body - but refused to have oral sex with her. Ex-Girlfriends Judy Spreckels and June JuanicoAlanna Nash have stated that the star "would never put himself inside one of these girls..."Cassandra Peterson ("Elvira") says she knew Presley for only one night, but all they did was talk. Cher regrets turning him down when he asked her to stay with him in Las Vegas, because she was too nervous about spending the night with him.Peggy Lipton claims that he was "virtually impotent" with her, but she attributed this to his boyishness and drug misuse. had no sexual relationships with Presley. Byron Raphael and

Ann-Margret, (Presley's co-star in Viva Las Vegas), refers to Presley as her "soulmate" but has revealed little else. A publicity campaign about Presley and Margret's romance was launched during the filming of Viva Las Vegas, which helped to increase Margret's popularity. Presley apparently dated many female co-stars for publicity purposes. Lori Williams dated him for a while in 1964. She says their "courtship was not some bizarre story. It was very sweet and Elvis was the perfect gentleman."

Former partner Linda Thompson says they did not consummate their relationship until after a few months of dating. After they broke up in December 1976, many say Presley never had sex again. His last girlfriend, Ginger Alden claims that she was engaged to Presley at the time of his death, but this is disputed.