"The biggest surprise about his singing had been revealed when he gave us a private concert and sang "Love me tender" a soft, ultra-slow ballad at the quaint music bungalow on the far west side of 20th Century lot. It was away from the bustle of traffic and from the big stages and it looked like the kind of cottage Walt Disney would have built for Snow White and Prince Charming. This was where Elvis felt relaxed, comfortable. So Ken Darby sat at the grand piano at the far end of the living room and Elvis stood a few feet behind him and in front of a tall stained-glass window. He stood erect, as if he was in a choir. Ken started to play the soft melody and I hardly knew that Elvis had started to sing, as his voice, barely louder than the piano, was pitched slightly higher than his usual. It had a lot of resonance and vibration and Elvis was on-key for every note, no matter how long, short, high or low. When he finished, it seemed only normal to express our amazement. "People think all I can do is belt, I used to sing nothing but ballads before I went professional. I love to sing slow, but seldom get to do it", he said, then continued to explain that, as a boy, an only child, he would sing like that when he sang with his mother and dad in church. "It was a small church, only seated about 75, you couldn't sing too loud there.""
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Actors from MississippiAmerican country singersSinger-songwriters from the United StatesGuitarists from the United StatesGospel singers
Original Language: English
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, a columnist for Variety then interviewing Elvis for the Photoplay magazine and who was present at the sessions, including an intimate concert for a dozen or so, which preceded the actual recording of the "Love Me Tender" soundtrack, as noted in a document entitled "Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1956)" as digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Media History Digital Library.
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Elvis Presley
film actor, singer, composer
1935 – 1977 · United States
(8 January 1935 – 16 August 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Popularly known by his first name as "Elvis," as "The King of Rock and Roll" or simply as "The King," he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.
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