Gospel Singers

"They've got signs of Elvis. They got billboards of Elvis and Graceland. There should be billboards of Ja Morant. Elvis is dead… It's over. God rest his soul.”"

"Older than Red State versus Blue State, older than the Montagues versus the Capulets, humankind’s primal combat is the age-old conflict between the Early Birds and the Night Owls. Early Birds are those who for some reason think a sunrise is one of life’s great experiences. At their helm is Benjamin Franklin, who famously said, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.”. Night Owls are those who believe the pleasure of staying up late is exceeded only by that of sleeping in the next morning—or the next afternoon, if it comes to that. Their hero is Elvis Presley, who famously said, “The sun’s down and the moon’s pretty; it’s time to ramble.”"

"To me, Bob Dylan always represented rock'n'roll – I never thought of him as a folk singer or poet or nothing. I just thought he was the sexiest person since Elvis Presley"

"i)The Houston Rodeo people didn't want us to come. There was a message sent to leave the black girls, they didn't need the black girls. And so Elvis responded with, 'Well if they don't come, I don't come'. But he was really upset about it. There was one person in particular who had sent the message. So when we got there, we were greeted by this little blonde in a convertible and she had to drive us around and she was his daughter. So Elvis always made sure he got even. I'm sure he said, 'And I want your daughter to drive them'. But, when it was happening we didn't know. We learned that later ii) When in true form, he was fabulous, his voice and vocal pitch a lot more remarkable than it ever came off on record; in fact, Elvis was a much better singer than could ever be captured; you know, some singers' voices are just too big, and Elvis' was like that."

"It was at age 13, in 1977, when I would discover my real passion while watching the live TV coverage of Elvis Presley's funeral. I liked the immediacy of it all, and I knew right then I wanted to do that someday..."

"He was causing riots wherever he went. On May 5, 1955, he was chased at intermission and across the field by a pack of women at Ladd Stadium in Mobile, right after he finished singing, which had been set to start before intermission...."

"The medium of TV and the birth of Elvis came at exactly the same time. Before, it didn't matter as much what you looked like, with radio or records. With Elvis, it was the whole package."

"What's better than Jaden Smith rapping about Elvis Presley and driving around with Harry Potter in the most surreal of ways? Well, Jaden Smith rapping about Elvis Presley and driving around with Harry Potter in the most surreal of ways and with only other voices as his accompaniment."

"I worked in a credit store and he came in to open an account. I asked his name and he wouldn't give it to me if I didn't give him mine first. LOLː Same with the phone, the address. LOL. Anyways, that's how I met him, and then he introduced me to his first cousin Gene, and it all started from there. Years later he and all his entourage were at a Cadillac dealership in downtown Memphis. It was Xmas. He gave each and every one of them a Caddy and, as he was waiting for a special Caddy he had ordered he saw an African American lady who was waiting for her husband to pick her up. So finally he shows up, with a cranky Concord. It was then that Elvis asked her how a lady of her age was s still working. And the lady said that was how all the bills would be paid, rent, etc. So, when his car finally arrived there, he gives her the car he had ordered. With all the commotion, everyone had left, the lady left, left the Concord there, and Elvis was standing in the middle of Beale Street, alone, in the middle of the night. He saw a light in a nearby store, so he asked the African American who was there cleaning to give him a ride home, as all his friends had left, and so had the African American lady, he explained. Willie, that was his name, who didn't know who Elvis was at first, told him that if he waited, he would take him to Graceland but warned him his car did not have seats in the back and that the one in the passenger side, up front, was broken, so Elvis told him he will sit anywhere to get home. Once there he asked him for his address and work number, as he didn't have a home phone. The next day Willie was invited to Graceland and when he came in, he drove there with a brand new car..."

"I was in Holland and our dressing room was next door to the one being used by the supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets. Anyways, I went to the toilet and who walks in but Alex Turner? He is a hero of mine and, to me, he looked like Elvis Presley..."

"Each singer (of the so-called folk variety), is recognized as much from its characteristic sound, as from what they actually sing or play, and they manipulate tone colour with a virtuosity that owes nothing to either the classical, or the Tin Pan Alley tradition; one thinks, for example, of the voice of Elvis Presley, an expressive vehicle, shifting from high to low tones, groaning, slurring, and producing breathless changes of rhythm; to many listeners, the voice may have seemed crude, but its folk immediately resided in its crudeness."

"The week I started working at Federal Express was probably one of the most significant times in recent history in Memphis due to the death of the Elvis Presley. On the day after his death, we had to set up the sorting tables, yes, tables not belts since we were still doing manual sorting as we waited on the first automated sort belts to be installed. We were all working side by side for about 30 minutes and as we were all ready to leave, someone reached out to shake my hand. As he shook it, he introduced himself as Fred Smith and I then countered with "Nice to meet you, Fred and I’m Elvis Presley". I did that because all I knew about Federal Express at that time was that the founder was an enterpreneur named Fred Smith. The man turned to me and said "No, really I’m Fred Smith" and I said "No, really I’m Elvis Presley". As he walked away he turned and looked back with a slight smirk on his face and a little chuckle. A few minutes later, Mike Ducker, my first boss slapped me upside the head as he laughed at my early introduction to one Fred Smith."

"A lot of Presley's good stuff was overlooked. Like the NME viewpoint that he died when he came out of the army. I think the opposite, his best stuff came after the army. Look, Elvis was the King right? To me, Elvis IS King 'cos he sustained it"

"Chris Richards should look up the accomplishments of Elvis Presley. Presley did more to further black music than any artist on the planet. He made it acceptable and paved the way. Almost all rock historians agree. Richard's article quoted an obscure obscenity from one racist musician but did not include even one of hundreds of positive quotes from his rivals of the day, who loved Presley and his uniting spirit."

"Elvis Presley has a very definite form of dance rhythm and this may well be what creates the hysteria."

"During that last show in Indianapolis, he was on stage for an hour and a half. He included his own hits, pertinent covers and classic rock ’n’ roll, and there was a crescendo of gospel which was always a showstopper. It was a special show. He sang his heart out. Having only seen Elvis on stage in Las Vegas in previous years in front of an audience of 2,200 people the atmosphere was equally electrifying in front of 18,000, and the whole audience erupted when he announced that amongst them were 250 Brits."

"After the show, we were headed out and about 20 feet in front of us, there were Elvis and his crew heading out also. Somebody right behind him yelled...faggot.. Elvis turned around and punched him in the face. Now that was funny..I was really glad I saw him do that. I would have probably done the same thing."

"My heart melted when I saw him in person but when he and my dad met for the taping, they were both nervous..."

"At the risk of being sad for two seconds, I drink a toast to a wonderful fellow who left yesterday and did much for American Music. I knew him for maybe 12 or 14 years and we know, what he did in his career, but I knew him as a man, a gentle, good, fine man, gracious and generous in every sense of the word. Things which people never heard about him helping organizations, and children's hospitals but I knew all about that. He was some kind of cat and I hope God's good to him. ii) I am just a singer. Elvis was the embodiment of the whole American culture. Life just wouldn't have been the same without him. There have been many accolades uttered about his talent and performances through the years, all of which I agree with wholeheartedly. I shall miss him dearly as a friend."

"You were either brought up on the Beatles or Elvis. I was raised on Elvis, and every song he sang, every film he was in and every move he made is part of my DNA."

"Most singers have their idols. I remember Elvis Presley when I was about sixteen, I always said I wanted to do 'Love Me Tender.'"

"He rarely over-sang when recording, delivering a vocal to suit the song. So, he can loudly accuse in "Hound Dog" (1956), rasp and rage for "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), bare his soul and beg on "Any Day Now"(1969) and sound quietly, sadly, worldly-wise on "Funny How Time Slips Away". (1970). This gift may explain why his music endures so powerfully and why his performances remain so easy to hear."

"By 1979, they were so prolific that Freddy was able to lounge in the bath in the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich, pick up a guitar – not his usual instrument – and bash out this globally successful tribute to Elvis Presley in 10 minutes. We are not worthy."

"Elvis' songs can be heard everywhere worldwide, which is perhaps why everyone is familiar with his voice. When you hear a deep tuneful voice with a Southern drawl in a rock 'n' roll song, it can't be anyone but Elvis (in spite of that voice actually being that of someone else "successfully" mimicking him)."

"But it wasn’t until 1958, when Elvis Presley teamed the item with brilliantine and attitude in the movie "King Creole" that the jacket crossed over to Main Street and became a much-copied American staple. Elvis always floated between Ivy League style and serious fashion and the Baeacuta G9 came in some great colors. When Elvis wore it was called the "Jivey Ivy" , which was Ivy League with a twist. After that almost every clothing company in the US copied it."

"The first time I heard his music, back in ’54 or ’55, I was in a car and I heard the announcer say, “Here’s a guy who, when he appears on stage in the South, the girls scream and rush the stage”. Then he played ‘That’s all right, mama’. I thought his name was about the weirdest I'd ever heard. I thought for sure he was a Black guy. Later on I grew my hair like him, imitated his stage act – once I went all over New York looking for a lavender shirt like the one he wore on one of his albums. I felt wonderful when he sang ‘Bridge over troubled water’, even though it was a touch on the dramatic side – but so was the song. It was unbelievable,and I thought to myself, how the hell can I compete with that?"

"He is a huge Elvis fan, his favourite songs being ‘Jailhouse Rock’ and ‘Suspicious Minds, and he can move like Elvis"

"Remembering the legend and the super energetic actor who carved an extraordinary niche for himself, especially for his grooving dancing style. He was ahead of his times in everything and was the first among contemporaries to have mastered the internet. He was truly deserving of the title 'Elvis Presley of India'"

"It's like Ron Howard trying to be the Fonz. It's hard for an English rap artist to have that kind of a cool "Fonzie" effect to Americans and a wide-variety audience. So either you have to go a comical route or something, a Pee Wee Herman-route. I don't know, something! You've got to come with something other than trying to be Elvis Presley."

"In some ways, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) can already be called a success due to its democratic accountability and the active involvement of civil society, but I would like to quote the famous philosopher Elvis Presley, in one of whose timeless hits he asked for “A little less conversation, a little more action -please”. So let's listen to Elvis – and act now!"

"i) FUN ... it is waiting for you, Mr. and Mrs. Everyday American, and guess what? It is your birthright,” writes Springsteen of that galvanic Elvis moment. Springsteen’s familiar stage voice, his corny carny barker way with action verbs, leaps from the page in assessing what Elvis promised: “The life-blessing, wall-destroying, heart-changing, mind-opening bliss of a freer, more liberated existence. ii) Somewhere in between the mundane variety acts on a routine Sunday night in the year of our Lord 1956, THE REVOLUTION HAS BEEN TELEVISED iii) There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king. iv)it was like he came along and whispered some dream in everybody’s ear, and somehow we all dreamed it. ii) When I heard it, it just shot straight through to my brain. And I realized, suddenly, that there was more to life than what I'd been living. I was then in pursuit of something and there'd been a vision laid out before me. You were dealing with the pure thrust, the pure energy of the music itself. I was so very young but it still hit me like a thunderbolt."

"If one goes to the Licensing Convention in Las Vegas, the three most iconic images of the 20th century are Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and Muhammad Ali."

"In Jailhouse Rock, he was everything rockabilly's about. Nah, nah, I mean, he is rockabilly: mean, surly, nasty, rude. In that movie, he couldn't give a fuck about nothin' except rockin' and rollin', livin' fast, dying young, and leaving a good-lookin' corpse, y'know?"

"Elvis is everywhere. Elvis is everything. Elvis is everybody. Elvis is still the King."

"Little hellions, kids feelin' rebellious, Embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis."

"I'd like to wake up in the morning and hear on CNN that Elvis lives again"

"And as Charles de Gaulle made it into power, promising the colonial population in Algeria "the 1,001 nights", and even as the Bastille seemed like it was never, ever to be taken again yet, in spite of it all, the voice of Elvis kept singing "Good Rockin tonight""

"Gather 'round, cats, and I'll tell you a story, about how to become an All American Boy."

"Do you know how hard it is to fake your own death? Only one man has pulled it off — Elvis."

"Elvis are you out there somewhere Looking like a happy man? In the snow with Rosebud And King of the Mountain."

"Et Charles de Gaulle prenait le pouvoir, promettant les milles-et-une-nuits au pieds-noirs, et la Bastille en a tellement vu, qu'on ne l'y reprendra jamais, jamais plus, et la voix d'Elvis chante "Good rocking tonight""

"No, many thanks but I am just a tourist here and prefer no photos are taken."

"Jerry and I were big Elvis fans and the name held some fascination. We were also looking for someone who had never performed comedy, who could recite the most hilarious piece of dialogue without thinking the lines were MEANT to be funny. We saw a certain naïveté and inexperience in Priscilla Presley that we knew would work for what we had planned."

"I shall always regret not having seen Elvis Presley live..."

"What was the Strip like back then, or what was it like to see Elvis Presley....."

"Elvis' 1969 opening night in Las Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years, playing the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel and drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Las Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews, “Suspicious Minds” gave him his first number-one hit in seven years, and Elvis became Vegas's biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 650 shows there, and sold out every one. Las Vegas was changed too. The intimate night-club-style shows of the Rat Pack, who made Vegas the nation's premier live-entertainment center in the 1950s and ‘60s, catered largely to well-heeled older gamblers. Elvis brought a new kind of experience: an over-the-top, rock-concert-like extravaganza, setting a new bar for Las Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. In doing so, he opened the door to a new generation of pop/rock performers, and brought a new audience to Las Vegas—a mass audience from Middle America that the city depends on for its success to this day."

"I knew him when he was a kid. He used to play the guitar and go around with quartets and to Negro ‘sanctified’ meetings. He lived near the colored section, and people around here say he's one of the nicest boys they ever knew. He just doesn't impress me as the type of person who would say a thing like that."

"Our childhood housekeeper kept us supplied with a handwritten list of records. And when our mom would go out shopping and say, “Kids, can I get you something?,” we'd say, “You going by the record store? Here’s the list.” And sure enough, it was Jimmy Reed. It was Larry Williams. It was Ray Charles. All the good stuff. My sister and I played the sides off of those records. We'd turn those 45 rpm singles white. And I remember my mom taking us to see Elvis Presley and that kind of did it ... we had the music bug. And then my father took me down to a recording session at ACA, that was Bill Holford's place. And he put me in a chair and he said, “I’ll be in the office if you need me. Stick around because there are some musicians gonna make a recording session.” And I was kind of enjoying it, and who should walk in but B.B. King and his band. So between seeing Elvis and watching B.B. King record, it was carved in stone."

"Elvis is GOD!"

"This is the mysterious part about music, the people who mean it, like Elvis, are generally the ones who are processing some kind of loss, and we connect to it."