All Quotes

"From the first quavering notes of the song, it was obvious that there was something different about him -- you could detect his influences, but he didn't sound like anyone else. There is a quality of unutterable plaintiveness as Elvis, in 1953, sings "My Happiness", a pop hit, in 1948, for Jon and Sandra Steele, and a sentimental ballad that couldn't have been further from anyone's imaginings of rock-and-roll. It is just a pure, yearning, almost desperately pleading solo voice reaching for effect. The guitar, Elvis said, "sounded like somebody beating on a bucket lid," with an added factor of nervousness that Elvis must surely have felt. But even that is not particularly detectable -- there is a strange sense of calm, an almost unsettling stillness in the midst of great drama. When he finished, the boy looked up expectantly at the man in the control booth. Mr. Phillips nodded and said politely that he was an "interesting" singer. "We might give you a call sometime.""

"Recently, someone asked the question of who had been the one individual who'd helped save the most money in the US healthcare industry in the last century. The answer – surprisingly – is Elvis Presley. On October 28, 1956, Elvis got a polio vaccination before his appearance on national TV. That event was responsible for raising immunization levels in the US from 0.6% to over 80% in just 6 months. No other single individual has had that kind of impact on healthcare in the US."

"These last three years he's been so used to people tearing at him wherever he goes that he's drawn-into as hell. He's so used to being alone with a few close friends and going for drives and playing records that you can't get him out"

"A toss-up between seeing Elvis live in Las Vegas in the 1970s and taking a dip in the thermal waters of Iceland’s Blue Lagoon ..."

"While vastly different individuals, Abraham Lincoln, Elvis Presley and Martin Luther King Jr. were all brave Americans who firmly stood for what they believed."

"We were first called the Grim Reapers and we recorded at this place in Janesville (Wisconsin). It was in a barn and this guy [had] a four-track machine. We recorded a song called ‘Cruisin’ for Burgers' and we did Elvis' ‘Hound Dog, When the people at Epic Records heard it, and they decided they liked us well enough where they gave us a record deal, they asked us to change our name to Fuse which eventually became Cheap Trick in 1973. Ad then we lived through a series of highs and lows before encountering a particularly difficult era in the mid-‘80s. That changed with the release of our 1988 comeback album Lap of Luxury, which contained another Elvis track, in fact it was the only version of an Elvis song that went to the Top 5 – ‘Don’t Be Cruel. So there’s two references to Elvis Presley in our career.”"

"A group of teenage girls stood at the driveway eager to see a glimpse of him. Then, as someone inside ruffled a curtain, the girls all screamed, totally convinced that they had seen Elvis. Was that Elvis at the window? we would all scream. And, of course, it never was but just another exciting Saturday night at Audubon Drive..."

"I wasn't even born when Elvis passed away, but I am hugely grateful for the musical doors knocked down by him. It was good to have people like that who weren't scared to take chances back then. You don't take chances to do it in vain; you take chances musically because you care, or you want to be different, or you want to see what would happen if you mix this with that. It takes an open mind, but Elvis was one of those people that whatever he did, it was right. I love the fact that Elvis was a country boy."

"I knew little of him before we met at the White House. But, as I talked to him, I felt he was basically a very shy man. People say that because he had trouble at the end of his life, that he could not have been a good example, but they overlooked the fact he always used medication prescribed by his physician, so I think that he was always a very sincere and decent man."

"Elvis Presley is my spiritual father and, as you may know, Maria Callas is my spiritual mother."

"Eminem is a King in his own right, a genius. He's our Elvis and I think we should claim that.""

"I came to Hollywood as a teen because I was in love with Elvis Presley and I wanted to meet him. And one day, on a movie set, I did, and he gave me the opportunity to work as a hair specialist in a film he was then making. I want to thank all those who have made this possible and last but not least, Elvis Presley without whose kind help I wouldn't be here today. And you should see what it was to see him..."

"Like myself, Elvis was introduced to the world of self defense while in the military. He would study many styles under many different ethnic instructors throughout his life. In 1959 he started as a student under German , (a Shokotan sensei), then was mentored under Japanese Teugio Murakami (a Shokotan master), Korean Kang Rhee (Sa-Ryu TaeKwon Do Grandmaster), Americans Hank Slemansky (a Chito Ryu stylist) and Ed Parker (the founder of American Kenpo – who would remain his lifelong teacher), and Filipino Dan Inosanto (later Bruce Lee’s student). Elvis’ love for martial arts permeated his career in music and movies, where he'd often demonstrate his self-defense moves. I'll never forget seeing him perform, sitting in the front booth with Bob Wall as the special guests of his wife Priscilla at a dinner show at the Las Vegas Hilton and being captivated by his charisma and showmanship. That was the day Bob and I first met him, when, after the show Elvis invited all of us up to his suite, where we talked until 4:00 in the morning. At first I thought, “What are we going to talk about?” I knew nothing about music, but I knew I could talk about martial arts all night long! And we did! I was impressed with his self defense insight and devotion. Even after two shows earlier that evening, Elvis stayed to the early morning hours shooting the breeze with us. That was a special night for all of us, which I'll never forget. Elvis was a real nice, down-to-earth guy, who made you feel in a few hours like you had known him forever. I still enjoy his music and films."

"Before any of my debates, I listen to Elvis Presley's version of “My Way.”, just to get myself psyched up..."

"He is arguably one of the most iconic figures in American culture, the boy from East Tupelo who wanted a gun for his 11th birthday, got a guitar instead and went on to change the world introducing a unique musical style that combined pop, country, gospel and rhythm and blues. Although he moved to Memphis at a young age, Presley's home was, and will always be Tupelo..."

"It didn't take Americans and the rest of the world long to discover Elvis and it is abundantly clear that they will never forget him. His popularity continues to thrive years after his passing, with each new generation connecting with him in a significant way. Elvis, known throughout the world by his first name, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures of 20th century music and popular culture, and his status as a cultural icon appears ever stronger as time goes by. His extraordinary talents produced achievements that remain unparalleled in American and world history. The international superstar was an accomplished and influential artist in several genres of music - rock, pop, country, R&B and gospel - and he triumphed on television, the concert stage and the silver screen. American culture and music changed irreversibly because of Elvis. It would be difficult to tell the story of the 20th century without discussing the many contributions made by this legendary, iconic artist."

"The entourage was assembled, and the caravan headed out so Puffy, Biggie and I got into my Ford Explorer. I had a six-disc player, and it automatically went to Elvis 'Suspicious Minds' and Puffy was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Biggie was in the back and he said, ‘Hey, man, chill out. Elvis was cool,’ I thought it was so awesome that Biggie was sticking up for me for listening to Elvis.” ~"

"Nowadays, with the cult of celebrity so firmly ingrained in western society, it seems obvious that having a leading star flash their wrist at a large audience would see a brand's sales go through the roof. But when Elvis Presley wore the Hamilton Ventura in the 1961 film Blue Hawaii, the then American brand couldn't have imagined the enduring effect of Presley's contribution."

"That was the one thing that they knew that could conquer the world. They had the greatest dancers. They had the greatest choreographers and teachers in the world. And so at the time of Nureyev's defection, they were going to the West, and it was just two months after Yuri Gagarin went into space, and it was an enormous embarrassment to them, as he was also one of those enormous stars that you probably won't get again. He and people like him, like Elvis, they were sort of larger than life, and they stood out more. ..."

"Never has there been a more obsessed-over American pop icon than Elvis Presley"

"So go ahead Bruce, and give me the Elvis take on cultural appropriation right now. I don’t want to get waylaid I should say, but I am a big Elvis fan. And I’m not a believer of narrowingly defining who gets to do what. I think we steal from everybody, from everywhere and that’s the nature of humanity, of culture, that is how ideas migrate. That’s how music gets created. That is how food gets created. I don’t want us to be thinking that there’s this way for that person and that way for the other person. I think what’s always been relevant about cultural appropriation is if the black person who writes the song and who performs it better can’t also perform it and can’t get the record deal. I’ve got no problem with white artists doing black music cause I don’t think there’s such a thing as simply, exclusively black music or white music, or Hispanic music. It’s the economics and the power dynamics underneath it which Elvis obviously was part of, but he didn’t create it."

"In Michelle Obama's Netflix documentary "Becoming" her stylist, Meredith Koop, fingers a suit that awaits the first lady turned bestselling author backstage on her book tour. It's pale pink and pimped with diamanté. “She is not a minimalist,” Koop deadpans. “When I look at this suit I do see Elvis and I don’t have a problem with that.” That's nothing. It's followed up in short order in the TV show by Obama's now-infamous turn in gold-sequined Balenciaga thigh boots, and a dress slashed so high that you are left in no doubt that thigh boots are precisely what they are. This isn't mere Elvis style. This is Lady Gaga too."

""One good turn deserves another/Be my love, I'll be your lover/It's all part of nature's laws/If you'll scratch my back, then I'll scratch yours" That's not a poem; it's actually the first stanza of an Elvis Presley song, titled ‘Scratch my back". The phrase, ‘scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ was not coined by the writers of Presley's song, having been in existence way before Presley was even born but what it basically means is that a favour done will be returned, and that nothing goes for nothing."

"When I was at Harvard, and it's the 80s, and I had sort-of come of age with 60s and 70s music, so Elvis wasn't a big interest of mine. And, then in 1983, I listened for the first time to The Sun Sessions, Elvis' earliest work that he did with Sam Phillips. It blew my mind. It was like a drug. I couldn't get enough. It made me go out and buy a guitar. It made me try and play that music. And, in a sense, I've never gotten past that music. I can't get past early Elvis. I appreciate other music, but I'm always drawn back. It's just this energy. What I've always noticed about Elvis is there's nobody more talented, or better looking. He's a rare example of the complete package and he is at the right time. He's got it all. I listen to Elvis nearly every night on Sirius. I love it. Yet, there's always part of me that's very sad that Elvis couldn't have lived to see how great his work was. He was someone who was revered. To see that whole generation come out and play with him and support. And let him know that his work meant something in the American tapestry, but he never got that chance."

"As you know, I died in Chicago. I lost my life and I went to heaven because I was very good and sang very lyrical songs. And I got to talk to God and he said, 'Well, what do you want to do? You can go back and be anyone you want.' So I thought who do I want to be? And I thought, I wanted to be the guy who was the King of Pop, the king of show business, Elvis Presley If there's any hope for America, it lies in a revolution. If there's any hope for a revolution in America, it lies in getting Elvis Presley into becoming Che Guevera. If you don't do that, you're just beating your head against the wall, or the cop down the street will beat your head against the wall. We have to discover where he is, he's the ultimate American artist.""

"She has a taste in music that almost perfectly reflects her style, having been in politics for longer than a large portion of the electorate has been alive, and her musical tastes appear to be just mainstream, contemporary Top 40 radio music. Another large portion of her playlist features Jennifer Lopez, Marc Antony and Juanes. But like her opponent, Clinton also professes a love for the music of her youth, including her being a fan of Elvis Presley,"

"(In fact), Elvis Presley was a fan. I was thrilled by that; I really was. We never know how we affect the people we come in contact with. We cannot decide how it is we affect anybody. It makes me feel wonderful when I feel that it is something I have done that makes them go on."

"There is just too much difficulty for getting radio airplay for my new music. Most every song today is the same chords for maybe 300 bars. But I imagine they said the same thing about us when we were jumping around on Elvis Presley and Little Richard and Fats Domino and Sam Cooke and Otis Redding and James Brown. I guess it's all in what you call evolution..."

"O'Keefe was deeply depressed by Elvis Presley's death. He was his idol and O'Keefe would keep telling friends that he would be next. Six days after appearing on the Seven Network Show Sounds (which was a little over a year after Presley's death), O'Keefe passed away from a heart attack."

"I think the best analogy for where we are right now is that America is Elvis Presley... the most beautiful, talented, rebellious nation in the history of Earth. And now, America is wheezing its way through ‘Love Me Tender". But America's still the King.”"

"When political leaders present war as the only solution, it is up to artists to remind people that finding peace is still possible. That is the starting point for a Kosovo-based theatre company, Qendra Multimedia, whose new play returns to the last war in Europe before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and explores how it was stopped.The lesson it draws, and the genre it chooses to present its findings, is unexpected: the diplomacy of peace as a farce, albeit a necessary one. Dramatising roundtable talks between the fictional warring countries of Banovia and Unmikistan, the play is a frenzied comedy in which vain generals can only be lured to the negotiating table by promises of Hollywood films celebrating their actions. Opposing parties get drunk while negotiating demilitarised zones, mix up drafts of ceasefire agreements and sign on the wrong dotted line. Maps of disputed territories are partitioned with paper scissors until holy lands turn into showers of confetti. And yet, at the end of the 90-minute performance, former enemies lock arms to sing Elvis Presley’s Peace in the Valley""

"I don’t like to seem like I’m bragging, but I’m going to ask you a question. Who owns Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Forever 21? and JC Penney? Me!!! My real business is I own 50 brands, So, when I was retiring, I’m looking around, I’m like ‘How does Michael Jackson and all these guys live forever?’ So, one of the chapters in the book, joint venture-ship. So, I called the three companies, seemingly Authentic Brand Group, Simon Property Group, and Brookfield Property Partners and they bought my brand for a lot of money. So, I took half that money, put it back in the company, now I’m the number two guy in the company. I put money back in the company, and now I own all those other brands, so if I ever go away, we still got Elvis."

"Of course, it was hard to get to Elvis because you had to go through Parker. But when I found myself in Las Vegas, in August of 1969 I had a way in and that was through my friend Tom Jones. Tom was friendly with Elvis so he fixed it with Parker that Tom and I could sit close enough to take some photos of him performing on stage. Afterwards I went backstage and met Elvis and he just struck as the best looking man I’d ever seen, even better than the pictures..."

"The first thing he did when he came out in 1955 in Texas, it seemed like he was spitting on the stage. It all affected me like the first time I saw that David Lynch film. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it too. In fact, he was the firstest with the mostest."

"They wanted to kill rock ever since Elvis Presley went into the Army, but the rock chain kept on going, until today."

"As Elvis noted, 'A little less conversation, a little more action, please.'"

"It's hard to pick one, because I love Celia Cruz’s depth, Elvis Presley’s vibrato, Ray Charles’ texture, and Amy Winehouse’ melancholy flow;"

"Pat, then 13 as I was, got the tickets through her mom’s boyfriend who was a captain or something with the St. Louis Police Department. After the show, he asked us if we wanted to go backstage and meet Elvis, Once there, I noticed everyone was trying to get his attention, wanting him to sign things and take his picture, and he would say ‘yes, ma’am’ and ‘yes, sir’ to everyone. No matter how crazy it got, he was unfailingly polite. I like that he didn't at all act like a big shot. The photo with us, once it hit the papers, obviously, was a big hit at my school. People would bring it up to me all the time. When the picture was taken, I happened to have my eyes closed, so all my friends would tease me. They'd say, "You’re in love with Elvis, your eyes are closed" LOL. After graduating from Roosevelt High in 1960, I got a bachelor's degree from Mizzou in 1964, the same year I competed in the Miss Missouri pageant. Though neither of us, Pat and I, were able to follow his entire career, it was all really sad what happened to him. But I just remember how nice he was to us."

"I got a letter from Elvis in 1961, I was 16, and the letter said, “I just want you to know I put "Halfway to Paradise" in my jukebox.” When I finally met him in the ‘70s, I was headlining the Hilton in Las Vegas and was actually following him a week later. I sat with him in his dressing room and then I said, “Let me ask you a question. Do you remember writing a letter to me, saying that you liked "Halfway to Paradise?” And he calls Priscilla into the room, and he said, “Tell Tony what my favourite song is.” And sure enough, it was "Halfway to Paradise","

"In late 1956, at a Buenos Aires railway station where I ended up sleeping my first night after arriving from the provinces, that is when I heard his voice, which caused me shock, fear, but it also generated an artistic purpose on me. It changed my life. ii) Years later, I noticed Peter Rock was the best Latin American Elvis, until I saw Sandro"

"It was at the Forum in LA., in 1974. We were so far up in the nose bleeds it seemed longer to get to our seats than it did for Elvis to do his set. It was an education that gig, It was the first time I had seen merchandising sold so professionally at a venue. He must have been the richest bloke on the planet,."

"I remember watching this guy walk through the door as a regular human being, and the night before he was a master of the stage. That magic that aura, that whatever, he left it on the stage, because when he was with you he was a someone you could talk to, in other words, a very, very nice person."

"I’m telling you, he’s like Elvis. Everyone screams just getting a glimpse of him."

"Me, as a fan of music, I wasn't real sure at first — I wanted to see how it is — but this is something groundbreaking. For me, I would love to see a David Bowie [hologram performance], or I would love to see... maybe not a whole night, but AC/DC with... four songs with Bon Scott. Especially, people I've never seen — Elvis, I'd love to see an Elvis one"

"People talk of his range and power, his ability and ease in hitting the high notes. But the real difference between Elvis and other singers was that he could sing majestically in any style, be it rock, country, or R&B – because he had soul. He sang from the heart. And that is what made him the greatest singer in the history of popular music."

"It was in Vegas in '73 and it was really something to see. They really didn't know what to do with each other. Obviously Elvis was enthralled to be in Ali's presence, but so was Ali, he loved Elvis. Elvis came in to Ali's hotel room with the robe, 'The People's Champ' written on the back in jewels. Ali sees Elvis coming in and says, 'Hey, that's Elvis, man. He looks pretty good!' And both of them looked at each other like good-looking women would look at each other to appraise how they look. At that time, Ali was at the height of his good looks, so this was probably the best-looking black guy and the best-looking white guy on the planet in that room, and they were looking at each other like roosters. 'You look good, Ali.' 'Yeah, you're looking good, Elvis'. So here they are and they really wanted to be friends with, and respected each other and the love was there, but they couldn't quite get as close as they would have liked. But the robe Elvis presented to Ali that night was the only one he ever kept.."

"i) I am doing probably what they were doing up there, which is try to emulate the music I heard coming from America in some shape or form. It's defining coming from America, rock 'n' roll, rockabilly if you like, like in the modes of what (Elvis) Presley was doing and inspiring so many people like Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, all of them. And then accessing the blues and wanting as much to be sort of B.B. King, do you know what I mean? It was this sort of growth, really, of this voracious appetite I had for all things six strings, really. I can see how it manifests across the board. ii) We got to meet Elvis on May 11, 1974. He'd been the one who'd done so much for so many, setting everyone alight and flighting right under the radar with all of this black music, doing numbers by country blues artists like Arthur Crudup and Sleepy John Estes. It was unbelievable. He was one of us. And think about it! He started in 1954 – that was more than ten years before we arrived. It's miraculous that he made it through! He had the hand of God over him, he really did. He was the one that brought it all together. He brought blues and race music to the white culture. Rewinding to 1974, we were invited to see him play and then invited back to a party afterward. We went up to his suite. There was just a few other people. I can tell you we were really nervous when he came in the door. He really moved as naturally cool in real life as he did on film. That wasn't an act, that's just how he really was! It was real cool to us. It was a little awkward at first because his music meant so much to us but then somebody said 'You know that hot rod you drove in the movie 'Loving You'? And that was that everybody just drove into the conversation relaxed and had fun. He was wonderful a fantastic man!!! On this day in 1998, I played at Tupelo, where Elvis was born and raised, when there were no local attractions apart from the cotton fields or getting to Memphis. When Elvis grew up it must have been pretty bleak but the white and black picked the cotton side by side and the local indigenous music provided the soundtrack to this tough environment and it took the visionary genius of Elvis to blend those musical sources and change the world."

"I just obeyed my parents' objections to my continuing to see Elvis, who was two years younger than I was and even asked me to marry him, so I remained with Howard Hughes, whom I had loved for two years inspite of never being alone with him."

"There is perhaps no other person in human history who has been imitated and idolised as much as Elvis. In the face of his omnipresence, how can a performer who is met with the task of portraying Elvis make it feel real? After all, even footage of the actual man can feel uncanny, as if he, too, is yet another impersonator playing up the tropes."

"It was during filming that I remember a particularly special day. Elvis and the assistant directors gathered the whole cast & crew together on set for an important announcement. Elvis was beaming. I remember the anticipation of what he would say, and he stood up on a couple of apple boxes and shared with us all the news that his wife Priscilla was expecting. His famous smile and the glint in his eyes expressed such happiness! Everyone applauded and yelped ‘congratulations!’ Then, Elvis looked over at me among the crowd, pointed, and said, “And I want a little girl just like you!” It was an unbelievably happy moment – I ran over and hugged him..."