Elvis, the Colonel & how unseen letters changed Peter Guralnick’s view of their partnership

There’s a widely accepted view of the relationship between Elvis and his manager Tom Parker, the one sustained by the recent Baz Luhrmann movie, but a new and fascinating archive of unseen letters makes you see it differently: it was warmer, deeper and infinitely more complicated. Peter Guralnick – rock book royalty! - met Parker towards the end of his life and has just published ‘The Colonel And The King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley and the Partnership That Rocked The World’. He talks to us here about separating the myth from reality which touches on …

 

... overturning the conventional wisdom “that Elvis was the puppet, Sam Phillips the genius and Tom Parker the manipulator”.

 

... how theirs was “a partnership of equals” – though Elvis was in charge, not the Colonel.

 

… how Presley’s “security risk” – carrying guns and drugs across borders – was a factor in his refusal to accept world tour offers.

 

… two men powerfully motivated by money – Elvis liked spending it, Parker liked losing it.

 

… humour, charisma, intelligence, a force of nature: how Parker’s letters paint a different picture.

 

… “he was an entirely self-invented man. And there was no-one more American – which was ironic as he was Dutch.”

 

… the full story of the Elvis TV Christmas Special.

 

… how Parker grossly undersold Presley’s catalogue rights to RCA in 1973 for $5.4m.

 

… the Colonel’s Honesty game – “think of the number I’m thinking of and I’ll pay you if you’re right!”

 

… how Parker tried to curb Presley’s “smutty humour” and sell his “James Dean enigma” to the film industry after Dean’s death in 1955.

 

… how the only time he didn’t carefully manage an Elvis appearance was the Steve Allen Show hound dog debacle.

 

… why Parker couldn’t control either his or Presley’s self-destructive habits.

 

… his gambling addiction and a miserable 72-hour stint in a Vegas casino.

 

… and would the first internationally-known artist’s manager have been as famous had he not called himself “the Colonel”?

 

Order ‘The Colonel And the King’ here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/peter-guralnick/the-colonel-and-the-king/9780316399449/?lens=little-brown

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