Petula Clark talks ELVIS

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Quote:

"Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the 20th century."

(Leonard Bernstein)

Quote:

"If you're an Elvis fan, no explanation is necessary; If you're not an Elvis fan, no explanation is possible."

(George Klein)

Quote:

"For a dead man, Elvis Presley is awfully noisy."

(Professor Gilbert B. Rodman)

Quote:

"History has him as this good old country boy, Elvis is about as country as Bono!"

(Jerry Schilling)

Quote:

"Absolute id crashed into absolute superego...as the uptightset man in America shook hands with just about the loosest."

(Mark Feeney on the 'Elvis meets Nixon' meeting)

Quote:

"Elvis is everywhere"

(Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper)

Quote:

"...especially in the South, they talk about Elvis and Jesus in the same breath"

(Michael Ventura, LA Weekly)

Quote:

"The image is one thing and the human being is another...it's very hard to live up to an image"

(Elvis Presley, Madison Square Garden press conference, 1972)

Quote:

"Elvis was a major hero of mine. I was actually stupid enough to believe that having the same birthday as him actually meant something"

(David Bowie)

Quote:

"No-one, but no-one, is his equal, or ever will be. He was, and is supreme"

(Mick Jagger)

Quote:

"I wasn't just a fan, I was his brother...there'll never be another like that soul brother"

(Soul legend, James Brown)

Quote:

"Before Elvis there was nothing!"

(John Lennon)

Quote:

"There were rock 'n' roll records before Heartbreak Hotel, but this was the one that didn't just open the door…it literally blasted the door off its rusted, rotten, anachronistic hinges…. producing....no propelling, an unstoppable, fundamental and primordial shift in not only musical, but social, political and cultural history"

(JNP, BBC website)

Quote:

"Elvis, the musician, is largely a relic belonging to the baby boomer generation...Elvis, the icon, is arguably one of the most potent symbols of popular culture"

( Dr. John Walker)

Quote:

"It [rock & roll] was always about Elvis; not just because he was Elvis, but because he was the big star"

(Bono from U2)

Quote:

"If they had let me on white radio stations back then, there never would have been an Elvis"

(Little Richard)

Quote:

"Elvis loved opera, and he especially liked Mario Lanza. He would watch The Student Prince which was set in Heidelberg, over and over again. He loved the power of the big voices. And he loved big orchestras. He liked real dramatic things"

(Marty Lacker in 'Elvis and the Memphis Mafia')

Quote:

"If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead"

(Johnny Carson)

Elvis' #1 Pop Singles on Cashbox, USA:

Heartbreak Hotel (1956)

Don't Be Cruel (1956)

Hound Dog (1956)

Love Me Tender (1956)

Too Much (1957)

All Shook Up (1957)

Teddy Bear (1957)

Jailhouse Rock (1957)

Don't (1958)

Stuck On You (1960)

It's Now Or Never (1960)

Are You Lonesome Tonight? (1960)

Surrender (1961)

Good Luck Charm (1962)

Return To Sender (1962)

In The Ghetto (1969)

Suspicious Minds (1969)

Burning Love (1972)

(The Cashbox chart is now defunct)

Elvis Facts:

Elvis was 5' 11" tall

Elvis' natural hair color was dark blond

Elvis' blood type was O Positive

Elvis' shoe size was 11D

One of Elvis'( maternal) ancestors, Morning White Dove (born 1800, died 1835), was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian

Elvis' uncle, Noah Presley, became Mayor of East Tupelo on January 7, 1936

The Presley family moved to Memphis on November 6, 1948

Elvis was issued a Social Security card in September 1950 with the # 409-52-2002

In 1954 some of the shows played by Elvis & The Blue Moon Boys were at the Overton Park Shell; the Bel-Air Club; Sleepy-Eyed John's Eagle's Nest Club and the Louisiana Hayride

Elvis' first manager was Scotty Moore, then Bob Neal, before signing with Colonel Tom Parker

The first DJ to play an Elvis record was Fred Cook (WREC), not Dewey Phillips (WHBQ). However, Dewey had the distinction of being the first DJ to play an Elvis record in its entirety

Elvis once dated famous stripper, Tempest Storm

Elvis was filmed from the waist up only during his 3rd and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show

In the 50s Elvis was friendly with rising stars, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner and Ty (Bronco Lane) Hardin

Gladys Presley was 46 years old when she died, not 42, as many books suggest

The Roustabout album sold 450,000 copies on its initial release, 150,000 copies more than any of the preceding three soundtrack LPs. It was Elvis' last "soundtrack" album to reach #1 on the major album charts in the US

Elvis received $1m for filming Harum Scarum (aka Harum Holiday). The film grossed around $2m in the US

Elvis and Priscilla married on May 1, 1967

They were officially divorced on October 9, 1973

Elvis earns nearly $3.5m in 1968 and pays just over $1.4m in income tax

Elvis' return to live performing in Las Vegas on July 31, 1969 was in front of an "by invitation only" audience. Stars in attendance included Wayne Newton, Petula Clark, Shirley Bassey, Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson

On January 9, 1971, the national Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) announced Elvis as one of "The Top Ten Young Men of the Year". Elvis spoke at the official awards ceremony on January 16

"Elvis: Aloha From Hawai" made entertainment history on January 14, 1973, when it was beamed around the world by satellite. In the Philippines it drew 91% of the audience, in Hong Kong 70%. The viewing audience was estimated at more than 1 billion

For his 4 week Hilton Vegas season in August 1973 Elvis received $610,000

Sales of Elvis' 1973 album, Raised On Rock, were less than 200,000 units on its initial release

Elvis paid $2,959,000 in income tax in 1973

In December 1976 Elvis was sworn in as a special deputy sheriff of Shelby County (Memphis) by Sheriff Gene Barksdale

Elvis' final live concert was in Indianapolis on June 26, 1977

When Elvis died, he and his father Vernon, were embroiled in an FBI investigation called Operation Fountain Pen

More than 1,500 books have been published about The King in more than 30 languages

At Dec 2005 Elvis' biggest selling album in the US is the budget priced, Elvis' Christmas Album, with accredited sales of 9 million units (fingers crossed it reaches 10 million to give Elvis his first "Diamond" award)

By early2006, Sony BMG's "collectors label", Follow That Dream, had released more than 50 Elvis CDs

During the 1980s, tour guides at Graceland stated that Elvis' biggest selling album (globally) was Moody Blue, with sales exceeding 14 million

While Sony BMG estimates Elvis' global sales exceed 1 billion, the company is unable to substantiate this figure. Accredited sales worldwide are estimated to be less than 400 million

Petula Clark talks about life, Elvis....

.....and the night he tried to seduce her .

EIN News - 2006

Trivia: English singer Petula Clark has recorded more than 20 Top 40 hits and was the biggest selling solo female act in England, Australia and New Zealand during the 1960s

Britain’s best-selling female singer reveals she feels badly for young pop stars like Britney Spears and Ashlee Simpson.

Petula Clark, who has sold more than 70 million albums, compares today’s chart-toppers to tissues.

“You know, you use one and throw it away and get another one,” says the legendary singer, who performs March 10th in the Avalon Ballroom at Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario. “It’s a little bit like that and I think that must be very tough.”

Clark, whose hits include Downtown and Don’t Sleep on the Subway, admits she is bothered by performers on shows like American Idol and Canadian Idol.

“I see these kids coming in with such great hopes. Of course, some of them do make it but how long are they going to be there and what happens afterwards?

“Nobody seems to talk about that and that’s really the sad part, I think.”

Clark, 73, said today’s music consumers are to blame.

“It’s because the audience is much younger and they’re not as faithful to their stars as they used to be back in the 60s.”

Born in Surrey, England, Clark has recorded more than 1,000 songs and has graced both the silver screen and stages in London’s West End.

Clark admits she finds it increasingly difficult to find new challenges.

“The great roles for women of my age are few and far between and I think I’ve done them, really,” she says. “I’d love to do a new (theatrical) show but people are very scared about putting on new shows. They’re so expensive and extremely risky.”

Clark says she has had offers to write a memoir about her remarkable life and career.

“I’ve thought about doing it but it would take so much time out of my life. I’d have to sit down and think about that for two years, at least, and there’s so much of it that I would probably forget a lot of it,” she says.

“And there’s stuff that might be rather delicate, shall we say, involving people that may not be so happy about having their names in it. And a lot of the good stuff I wouldn’t be able to tell, frankly.”

Clark does recall, however, seeing Elvis Presley shortly before his death.

“The last time I saw him was not so nice because it was near the end and that was really very sad. I went to see the show and he could hardly sing. Most of the singing was being done by his back-up group. I mean, he had it down pretty pat. He knew the things he just couldn’t sing anymore so it was all carefully worked out that it didn’t look too bad.

“He was very, very overweight. I went backstage afterwards and he came in and he was kind of out of it, frankly. I hate to say it but he wasn’t there anymore. Everybody was saying: ‘Fantastic, Elvis, fantastic!’ and it wasn’t. I just didn’t know what to say to him any more and I just gave him a kiss and said goodbye. It was not a happy goodbye at all.”

Just years earlier, Clark recalls, the King had tried to seduce both she and her friend, the late Karen Carpenter.

She reveals: “We were just doing sort of a girls night out and we went to see him and we went backstage, of course, and we had a very nice time with him. Little by little all of his chums and, you know, hangers-on disappeared from the dressing room and it was just Elvis, Karen and myself.

“After awhile I realized that Elvis was coming on quite heavily to both of us. Karen was very innocent, at the time anyway, and I was sort of like the older sister. I said, ‘Karen, we’ve got to get out of here’ and she said, ‘What?’ and I said, ‘Come on, we’re leaving Karen.’

“So eventually I more or less dragged her out. Elvis looked a bit downtrodden by this. He wanted us both. And that was my first meeting with Elvis.”

Not too long ago, Clark visited Memphis and toured the late singer’s famous home, Graceland.

“I was surprised. Graceland is a nice little house. I mean, it’s not a huge mansion or anything and I found the whole thing very moving. There wasn’t anything pretentious about it and I thought that said a lot about Elvis. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.”

The night after visiting Graceland, Clark said she stopped by a bar on Memphis’ famed Beale Street, where she was invited on stage.

“I sang Hound Dog, which I had never sung in my life,” says Clark. "I was up there for 20 minutes singing that damn song and it was as if Elvis was right there by my shoulder saying, ‘Yeah, okay, go girl!’”