Gospel Singers

"Number one for me and no one else comes close; ignore for a second that Presley was the most beautiful human being of all time and that he was easily the most electric performer ever; in his prime, he could sing anything (rock, opera, metal, soul, blues, country – no problem); all the wonks will tell you he did his best work at Sun Records, but for me his immense '50s RCA output is so explosive that it puts everyone else to shame; it’s not just that Elvis had an amazing instrument, no one ever had so much fun putting it to use; whirling back and forth from low to high, from raspy to angelically pretty, the only singer ever that could take any song and transform it into something that sounded like it came from somewhere else, a galaxy or two away."

"My childhood hero was Elvis Presley and I wanted to emulate his look"

"Do you think I'm at that level? It's within sight. Well, then, that's more terrifying that you think that.""

"He was as poor, or more poor than we were and lived around the corner from me. He had an old beat-up guitar and was pretty good with it, even back then. We also played sandlot football and he played with us Negroes all the time. In fact, I clearly recall seeing Elvis and BB King on a street corner playing together during their hungry days. And (all of ) that was before the world knew there was an Elvis Presley."

"I started my DJ career nearly 75 years ago in San Francisco, and am still playing the oldies but goodies. In fact I’ve loved radio all my life and I still do, even if things have changed radically since I lured Elvis and Natalie Wood to Scrivner’s drive-in at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga."

"I was born in the fifties so it's part of my fabric. These were some of the things I had in common with Lemmy, from Motörhead although Lemmy was ten years older and I think he was quite shocked to hear about some of the the music that I listened to because he was going, “How did you know about that?” And the reason that I knew is because I had an older brother and sister. So by the time I was two or three years old, I'm hearing this stuff on their record player and on the radio. My first conscious song that I can remember is “All Shook Up,” by Elvis Presley. I loved that song, really loved that song, and that's my first recollection of music and I just don't know why. It was like I was just attracted to it and I can recall that."

"He had been invited by , brother of slain civil rights activist to perform with Mahalia at an event in Mississippi but had to decline due to previous scheduled engagements. But being a fan of Mahalia's since he was a child, he found out she was visiting in town not far from where he was filming his movie at the time and he sent for a car to bring Mahalia to visit him on his movie set. Witnesses said it was one of the few times he appeared legitimately starstruck, to the point of emotional. When Mahalia arrived on the set and he first saw her he ran across the room pulling a chair over next to his chair to have her sit and relax where he could spend time visiting with her between filming scenes. Elvis spent a lot of time just looking at her adoringly and started to say something to her about growing up hearing her music but also telling her she reminded him of someone. Then she said Elvis's voice trailed off as he seemed lost in thought, but they presumed he was about to tell her she reminded him of his own mother. At one point he did in fact look at her and said softly "Mahalia, you're just like my Momma...". Mahalia was moved by his comment and found out later that when Elvis was young and lived in Tupelo he used to listen to gospel singing and went to Pentecostal Church. Mahalia said that explained why he could sing Gospel as good as he could."

"Your dad was always an inspiration to me. And I bet you I am going to end up like him, a dead but glorious King"""

"I’d done my show (in 1955), and I was back in a room. My daddy was in there with me, and we’re hearing screaming, and it was kind of scary. Daddy said, ‘Well, heck, there might be a fire or something. I’ll go check. You get your purse and stuff gathered up. So I did, and daddy left. And in a few minutes, he came back, stood there in the doorway and said, ‘Wanda, you’re not going to believe this. You’ve got to come see it for yourself.He took me to the wings of the stage, and I look out and here’s Elvis doing all these gyrations and all these girls around the stage screaming and reaching for him and crying, and I thought ‘What in the world?’ That was a first for me."

"As a free speech near-absolutist, I unreservedly defend the right of anyone to trumpet political views. But more than ever I admire those celebrities who steadfastly resist the temptation (or the hectoring) to talk politics. There are still some of them, following the footsteps of one of the greatest entertainers in American history. At the peak of his long career, Elvis Presley's influence on popular culture was unparalleled, but about politics he would say nothing. A classic illustration occurred during a pre-concert press conference at Madison Square Garden in 1972. It was at the height of the antiwar movement, and Presley, an Army veteran, was asked for his thoughts on the Vietnam War protests. “Honey, I’d just as soon keep my own personal views about that to myself,” he answered modestly. “I’m just an entertainer and I’d rather not say.” Faced with the pressure to get political, Elvis knew how to shake it off. Would that could still be said about Taylor Swift?"

"The move from Tupelo to Clarksdale was mainly a change in soundtrack. In Tupelo, the radio was dominated by Elvis Presley. I remember my grandmother telling stories about Elvis. They knew him in the Black part of town — that’s how poor he was-. When Elvis was a kid, he would sit on the porch of a nearby house and play guitar. I was never a fan of his..."

"Charles Manson in his prime or Richard Ramirez? Who was more popular with women? You are kiddin' me. Ramirez drives fems crazier than Manson ever did. Had to unplug the phones from outside the holding tank after they nabbed him. Unplugged the fax. Disarmed the email, Plus they had a cordon of fat-ass deputies cheek-by-jowl in riot gear. It was like the offensive line of the Oakland Raiders, just to protect Ramirez from his female admirers. It was like Elvis in his prime."

"After months of neglect, the U.S.S. Potomac was in poor condition and had to be cleaned up for the ceremony. A few days before the event, in early February of 1964, Presley's people contacted the Long Beach Port authorities asking how much it would cost to have the boat cleaned up and painted for the dedication, the answer being that it would take at least three days and $18,000 to make it presentable. There wasn't that much time, so then it became a question of how much it would take to just paint the side that faced the dock and the international press waiting therein? It was $8,000 so they did it""

"He was a unique artist – an original in an area of imitators."

"When Elvis came on the studio, and heard my song, he wanted it to be played again and again..."

"In a big club just outside of Memphis, I once shared a bill with a very young Elvis Presley. I didn't know what to expect and he actually turned out to be supercool and extra-respectful, with his 'pleased to meet you, ma'am' gentlemanly manners. He also touched my heart, many years later when my good friend Jackie Wilson was down and out, vegetating in some funky convalescent home. Elvis moved Jackie to a decent hospital – and paid for everything.""

"I have to respect Elvis accomplishments. He took R&B and made it respectable to white people. Plus it was B.B King, who knew Elvis personally, explained to me Elvis was quick to respect and acknowledge the black artists who influenced him."

"And so Elvis was going to come over and take the whole bunch of us out to have ribeye steaks, and so I was so excited. I'm in doing a "vogue," I can't believe Elvis is going to walk into the studio and he's gonna see me singing. I couldn't believe it, I was just flipped out. So anyway, the phone rings and Scotty Moore answers the phone, and he looks out. He says "Come on in" and I went in. It was Elvis on the phone and he couldn't make it over. And Elvis was "I'm sorry man, why don't you guys come over to Graceland when you can" and "We'll be in town for awhile, come on over to Graceland," and I was so disappointed, I really was, but it was great meeting, him on the phone, I never met him in person. I only had a couple of days left in Nashville and we had to finish up the album so I never made it over to Memphis. And I always regretted that..."

"It is a weakness of the mind to preconceive a judgment of your thought, before the act is done. Despite the acid hemlock stirred by "The Las Vegas Sun" , Mr. Presley will survive and live to sing some more. Perhaps this cat should have studied grand opera, or the fiddle (but), I don't join that school of thought. You see, he's a natural and any dope knows what a natural is. His vocal is real and has a hep to the motion of sound, with a retort that is tremendous. Squares who like to detract their imagined misvalues can only size a note creeping upstairs after dark; this cat can throw them downstairs, or even out the window, with a depth of tone that can sink deeper than a well. He can wilt into a whisper faster than a gossipmonger can throw down a free drink and he really makes them cry. Presley's voice is that of American youth looking at the moon and wondering how long it will take to get there, something new coming over the horizon, all by himself, and he deserves his ever-growing audience. Yep, this boy's sails are set and he's got wind. Good luck and the best of everything. I hope they hold you over! After all, ten million cats can't be wrong."

"We loved Elvis & Elvis loved us""

"All the members of Dextress come together in the common affinity for hard rock. While each individual loves this genre, we all also bring some diversity outside the Dextress sound. Our bassist Reece Runco finds inspiration from Jesse Cook, Roy Khan, Beck, and the performance style of Mötley Crüe, while being very influenced as a bassist by Steve Harris, Michael League, and Geddy Lee. Our animal behind the kit Keith Runco is very much into death metal. He's very passionate about Behemoth and Benighted. His biggest influences as a drummer are Inferno, Jojo Mayer, and Tommy Aldridge. And Our lead vocalist Eric Paulin is strongly influenced by Sebastian Bach, of Skid Row and Ray Gillen of Badlands and finds Elvis Presley an overall inspiration."

"I was crying of happiness so much that I wouldn't have even been able to recognize Elvis..."

"Bruce Johnston and I met Elvis in the late ‘60s. He was working in the studio across the hall from us so Bruce and I went over and introduced ourselves and he was very delighted to see us. He was trim and great looking, just like his album covers. He hadn’t gone back out on the road yet. We encouraged him to get back to work and he took us up on it."

"Without any question, it would be Elvis Presley’s "It's Now or Never", because that was number one when I was born. I have always said that I came into this world with Elvis singing it, and I’m going out to Elvis singing it.."

"When he hit the world, this is one of the most beautiful people anybody had ever looked at, and he's also coinciding with the explosion of the mass media invention in America. We are unleashing levels of power through cinema and television and radio that the world has never really experienced before, and we're combining that with the fire power of such a truly beautiful, majestic, authentic creature — this Elvis Presley. So what is an Elvis Presley? It's a funny name with this amazing figure who's part black, part white, looks like a Greek statue one second, looks vaguely like a woman the next second. I think Elvis even stands for something much deeper, something akin to Lincoln or Herman Melville or Emily Dickenson or Franklin Roosevelt, or even Teddy Roosevelt. I think he stands for something about how America became what it is, in the best sense. What he symbolized, in the best sense, was to say to so many people, if he could make it, they could make it. That’s the majesty of Elvis Presley."

"Bob King's", the nightclub, was packed and it was filled with anticipation. Even a seasoned musician like Sonny Burgess knew the vibe in the club was different that night. As Elvis Presley stepped onto the stage and the band started to play, his hips began to move and as sang "Good Rocking Tonight" the crowd was whirled into a frenzy. Burgess has witnessed hundreds of musicians and bands and played before millions of fans throughout the United States and Europe during his long career that has spanned more than 50 years, but the guitarist has never experienced the energy and emotion he felt the night he heard Elvis play that tune, back in 1955. "Boy, he was different," Burgess told The Jonesboro Sun. "As soon as he walked into the building you could feel his energy. He had the looks, the songs and the charisma. Whatever a star has, he had it — more than anyone else."

"I listened to Elvis Presley become, I watched Chuck Berry become, I listen to Little Richard and all that music was part of my upbringing"

"It's like Elvis, you don't remember how he passed away, you remember his 50 number-one hits and how he revolutionized rock and roll music, Taker knows how to do it, Shawn knows how to do it; they have done it for years, and now they have done it [in] multiple generations. So nostalgia is really, really hard to top, but it's every now and then; you can't do it every week."

"If his gyrating stage moves were performed by a Negro, he would be put in jail. He has been a bad influence as far as other performers...."

"Elvis was of the last generation to experience the magic of Hollywood's golden age, a time when options for mass entertainment were few. Mmovies brought people out of their homes and into public spaces and the cinema was his special arena"

"The transformation is quite impressive and is something that not many people realize is doable. The doctor implants eyelashes, hair, I never knew you could do that until I went to see Doctor Kahen. I'm really happy with how I look now, everyone talks to me about it, even my bank teller commented on how good my hair looks."

"It is when Guralnick shows how young Elvis made his way through this cultural briar patch, that we get what we need. He got voluptuous phrasing and ecstatic self-confidence from gospel, wit and menace from the blues, homespun sincerity from country and, from what we can now call gay theatrics, he got glamour and self-parody. He played the outlaw and the good son. How he flirts with his audiences, first being casual, fervent, sneering, then inviting us to laugh at, or with him. ¨As you desire me¨, he is saying, ¨so shall I be¨. Was he a great performer? Yes and yes again. He galvanized rock-and-roll and made you feel the fun and the risk and all the contradictions. That's self-invention, and that's entertainment."

"I remember one night we were talking in his room. He told me, ‘Mary you know we moved here from Tupelo when I was thirteen. Most of the stories that people read about the move say that we moved because times were so hard in Tupelo. Well, Mary, that is true; however, a few months before we moved here there was a couple that lived by us there in Tupelo. He was a cab driver. One night he came home in a rage and murdered his wife. In fact, he butchered her and cut her throat. The wound was so deep it almost severed her head. All of the neighbors were looking around and I saw that woman, too. I’ll never forget what she looked like. I began to have nightmares about it and cold sweats. So Daddy and Momma decided to go ahead and move to Memphis then. We did move here so Daddy could find work, but I don’t know if we would have moved, when we did, if that hadn’t happened."

"When Elvis first started at Humes, he was really poor. One day the office sent a letter home about a classmate who couldn't come to school when the weather was bad because he had holes in his shoes, had no warm coat and needed a haircut. It didn't name him, but we all knew who it was. My mom gave me a whole dollar and a jacket she had bought for my brother Bill. I was so proud to take the jacket and the money to the office."

"His departure for the Army and Hollywood made his last appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1957, as young America's unofficial leader, his crowning moment. He had brought youth to a prominence it had never known in American culture"

"Elvis was singing "That's All Right" and "Blue Moon of Kentucky". The sound went straight up your spine. The way he sang, the singer sounded black, but something about the songs was really country". I was crazy about Elvis, loved that churning rhythm on the bottom. He didn't have drums yet, but the rock and roll part was unmistakable."

"Presley brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream of popular culture, as he set the artistic pace, other artists followed. He, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation—the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture."

"At the close of his state visit to the Philippines, he showed a taste for American songs during a two-hour pleasure cruise around Manila Bay, as the guest of Philippine President Fidel Ramos. The trip on Ramos's presidential yacht was the highlight of the second day of his three-day state visit to the Philippines. Apparently aware of the Chinese leader penchant for songs, Ramos brought with him a string quartet, so after a breakfast of porridge and fruit, the 68-year-old Ramos invited him to sing, so the two leaders then ended up performing a duet of Elvis Presley's hit "Love Me Tender" which prompted Ramos into remarking: "That's the favourite song of Bill Clinton, so you have to prepare. When he visits you, you will surprise him."

"In his book "Elvis’s Army", Brian Linn argues that after years of bad press, the U.S. Army was eager to market itself as a new and improved force: an egalitarian, racially integrated institution through which men from all walks of life could build character, gain valuable professional skills, and become good citizens. Conscripting celebrities, even those as famous as Elvis, allowed the Army to promote its reforms while also pushing back against criticism that privileged men might be able to dodge the draft, supposedly a universal call of duty. Prior to his service, Elvis often starred in films as the laidback rebel. He was an icon for youthful disobedience, as well as a target for conservative criticism. But after a two-year stint in the Army, most of which he spent in Germany, As a result, the Army boosted its reputation, and Elvis relaunched himself as a mainstream star through films, like "G.I.Blues", which offered a light-hearted, patriotic message that military service could be fun and personally transformative."

"Syrus Jin, in a Foreign Policy article entitled "When Pop Stars Make for Secret Weapons" as published in their March 5, 2023 edition."

"He is the Elvis of the computer world"

"When I was in third grade, I got up on the stage and I did my Elvis impression and I sang ‘Hound Dog'. And the girls in the fourth grade started screaming, and I said to myself, ‘There’s something going on here. This is kinda cool if the girls in the fourth grade are screaming for a kid in the third grade. One day, my mentor told me that I should consider becoming a professional musician. And for a teacher, an adult, to tell me that was very important, that was an epiphany. It was a real eye-opener. Elvis was great."

"I've got the habit of listening to Elvis Presley from my mother. In fact she married my father because he promised to take her for an Elvis Presley show, which he did on their honeymoon."

"No other white artist but Elvis was the greatest Ambassador for black artists. Not only was he legitimate and came from the same background as many of us, but he had an integrity and class that most whites at that time did not. For that matter, many whites today don't have it. He publicly and privately treated us as equals. And his actions ultimately set a public example for many others to follow. This is the only place on Earth you will get the most truth about that. Everywhere else around this country folks got it twisted. It's a disrespect to not only Elvis, but to us. Anyone wants to discredit that man send them on down here to me! Myself and some friends will be glad to set them straight.""

"Elvis Presley changed everyone's life. I mean there would be no Beatles, Hendrix or Dylan. I mean, he just was the man who changed music without question. When they had a Rolling Stone poll about who was the most influential people in rock n roll, I think The Beatles were number one and I just said, you know, “What? No, Elvis was number one. I know he drew his influence from Gospel and Blues and Country Music and Black Soul music whatever, but he was the one that started it all. I was looking at an old Life magazine and there was a picture of him and I thought he was from Mars or something. And then that weekend my mother came home with ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and that changed my life. Years later, I saw him in Las Vegas and I mean he was fantastic at the Hilton. But the only time I met him was very briefly before he went on stage in Washington DC, a year before he died. And it was very sad but even though it was very sad, even on stage and my mother, who was with me, said, “Well he’s not going to be alive much longer, is he?” She was really sad. And I was too, he was my idol too. But even though he went through the motions and was not really there at the scene at the end of that concert, there was still flashes of brilliance, in spite of being hugely overweight, but when he actually sung a couple of lines it was magical. You don't lose that magic, no matter how fucked up you are, you know, you just. If you're brilliant, snatches of that brilliance will come through. And later in my life I end up a recluse in my own bedroom, you know, taking cocaine, so I'd kind of did become HIM. But what happened to him, you forget he died when he was only 42, for Christ's sake. I mean he was only 42. And it's one of the great tragedies. I don't think anybody actually said “Elvis, you can’t do that, you mustn’t do that”. Rewinding back, I played piano at a very early age, it got me attention and I liked it, but music wasn't my dream until I discovered him in 1957. I was sitting in the little barbershop in our village, waiting to have my hair cut, and I saw this picture of Elvis. He looked like an alien — really weird but amazing. And after I saw Elvis and heard his music, there was no going back."

"These days the bright London boy who passed his 11-plus and left school without any exams is touring the country with a talk show. In the likes of Southampton, ­Workington, ­Peterborough and Coventry he'll focus on the social significance of his life's soundtracks, from Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the rest. Music is his passion, politics always an interest. In the 1960s he was in a couple of rock bands as a rhythm guitarist and backing singer but when it became apparent that he wasn't going to become an overnight rock star, he got a job as a postman instead. However his love of music has never faded. Johnson adds "I was was a huge fan of Elvis and The Beatles so when Radio 1 celebrated its 50th anniversary recently it made me feel nostalgic as I remember when it first started broadcasting and what an incredible treat it was to be able to listen to pop music all day. I still play the guitar but I don’t think I’m going to be back on the stage any time soon"."

"Honestly, the first one was Elvis Presley. When I listened to Elvis when I was a kid and heard “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog" — you want to talk about an 8-year-old kid losing his mind? “Jailhouse Rock,” songs like that, made him kind of an American hero. But he also came across as kind of taboo, kind of a little bit rowdy, and a little bit too much for some people. That really stuck with me. Yeah, I was born ten years after he died, but everybody loves Elvis. Hell, my grandma loves Elvis. But when he came out, man, he was a little bit of a bad boy, too. He had that edge. Something about Elvis made you think if you smarted off, he might slap you. I heard that in his music. I heard that “I don’t really care what y’all think,” that whole “I’m going to boogie-woogie if I want to boogie-woogie” attitude."

"Elvis Presley was born to a death. His twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley, was delivered first, didn't live at all, and everything that happened next was a swaggering wobble between those two poles. Denis Johnson, who passed away from liver cancer at 67 in May 2017, references Elvis glancingly in several of his works — "Train Dreams" (2011), "Tree of Smoke" (2007), "Jesus’ Son" (1992), and in both the final pages of his first novel, "Angels" (1983) — and the last of five stories in his posthumous collection "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden", where the author makes liberal use of the legendary performer."

"i) I've been asked to write down who I am most grateful for in this holiday season. And the answer is Elvis Presley. We are a very musical family and he sings my favorite Christmas song, which "Why cant everyday be like Christmas". So now it's turned out that I've sang it to all my daughters when they were babies and they all fell asleep on me. ii) Woman wanted him, men wanted to BE him, or just hang out with him.”"

"Hendrix and Elvis were the ones who sparked my interest in music. When I saw Elvis play the acoustic guitar back in the day with 'Jailhouse Rock,' that's when I wanted to play. I think I was 6. All I could think of back then, was that would be a great job..."