All Quotes

"I heard Elvis Presley and I knew what my life was meant to be."

"i) I am just profoundly honored that Baz has invited me on this journey with him. It’s an extraordinary privilege. And I just feel so blessed to be working with such singular directors like him and Quentin Tarantino. ii) It was huge shoes to fill. I think when I began the process of this I set out to get my voice to sound identical to his. I held that for a long time and what that does is it also instills fear; that I'm not going to achieve that or whatever. That got the fire inside of me burning to work and work and work."

"Elvis Presley? I can't see that he has any talent."

"He as such a nice person, when I found out he died, I really was saddened"

"His life took a major turn at the age of 10, when listening to Radio Luxembourg and he heard Elvis Presley."

"I met him in Albuquerque, NM, in 1956 and I got to see him on the raw, with Bill, Scottie and DJ. They were just awesome, so electrifying, with so much energy. I could understand why he was becoming so big then, and become even bigger later. He was a very handsome man, his aura and his honesty. His charisma was huge, but his was very special....."

"I didn't see a color, he wasn't white, he wasn't black... he was Elvis."

"I remember the moment I got interested in music. I was 10 years old, sitting in a friend’s attic in our eastside Dayton neighborhood. His teenage brother played a 45 rpm single of Elvis Presley singing “(You Ain’t Nothin’ But a) Hound Dog” on a portable record player, and I was hooked. I felt guilty at the time, recalling that a few years earlier my mom had boycotted the “Ed Sullivan Show” when Elvis made his first appearanc there. I had no idea who Elvis Presley was. I was 7. But in 1956, rock and roll was scary for many parents.In a way, of course, all this goes back to Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph 80 years earlier. Back then, he thought he was inventing a playback dictaphone machine, which would make life easier for clerks taking notation from bosses. He had no idea that his invention would spawn a multi-billion dollar global music business...."

"Had Presley never sung a note he might have still caused a stir, but sing he did. Watershed hits such as "All Shook Up" (1957) or, for instance, "Are You Lonesome Tonight", (1960), were eminently Presley's from the moment he put his stamp on them. His jagged, bubbly highs, and Southern baritone jump from those recordings like spirits from a cauldron. Elvis crooned romantically, then screeched relentlessly, always pouring his heart into the lyric and melody. After Elvis, the male vocalist could no longer just sing a song, especially in the new world of rock-n-roll. The "feel" of a performance far out-weighed the perfection of the take."

"The Camarón Island is for San Fernando what Elvis Presley is to Memphis"

"We let him sing, he did fine and the crowd loved him but I thought at the time he would be a flash in the pan."

"I don't get it. Why would all these people stand in line for so long to get my husband's autograph? I wouldn't stand in line for anyone, except for one person – Elvis Presley."

"When I met him the first time in Memphis at the Peabody Hotel, it was a thrill. The thing was, he turned around and said to me “Freddy, I bought 'Tallahassee Lassie' and put it in my jukebox at Graceland”. All these singers were in the room, like Fabian, Frankie Avalon, Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, you could go down the line. So when he said that in front of all of them, he made me feel like a hundred feet tall. He liked my record because it was rock-and-roll. That was the biggest compliment of my life."

"You can not knock the fact that he's one of the kings of rap. His ability is second to none and he's definitely gonna go on the Mount Rushmore of Rap as one of the kings. He's Elvis Presley, the guy that took it to another level"

"There is no way to describe the pandemonium. I never saw as many women in my life. They were screaming, yelling. I was just horrified. I thought, 'They're going to kill him.' And they would have if they could have gotten loose, I'm afraid."

"The opening strains of "Heartbreak Hotel", which catapulted Presley's regional popularity into national hysteria, opened a fissure in the massive mile-thick wall of post-war regimentation, standardization, bureaucratization, and commercialization in American society and let come rushing through the rift a cataract from the immense waters of sheer, human pain and frustration that have been building up for ten decades behind it."

"Elvis Presley gave me the only dinner party I've ever heard of his giving in Las Vegas. He lived very near me in Palm Springs, CA, and just as he was going to open at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, he invited me for dinner at the hotel. I had never seen him before, but he was nice and I sort of liked him."

"In Memphis, they had built a football stadium, so we televised it for a two weeks to test the market. One Monday I am in the hotel, and so I get a phone call and this guy identifies himself as one of my fans, and he says he's Elvis Presley. I thought he was kidding, so he said "You don't believe me, go down to the front of the hotel in 10 minutes, and I ll prove it to you" So I went down there and he walks out of a Rolls Royce, we shake hands and takes me to Graceland. So after 15 minutes, I went to do the basket ball game then I came beck to his house. We sang, spoke, and suddenly he asked me if I had dinner, and if I liked barbecue ribs, so I stayed until 6 am eating a barrel of BBQ Ribs from The Rendevous, a restaurant which he called to make the order himself. That is how sensitive that guy was."

"I almost died when I was told I would be his co-star. He was an extraordinary handsome person with a very down to earth personality and a velvet voice. When he sang in the film I would melt. "Why is this happening to me?" I would say. I just couldn't believe it..."

"In New Haven, they put me on the stage to help whip up some interest in "Bayou". They hollered when I did the dance. It out-Elvises Elvis. Years later, during the filming of Change of Habit, he came up to me and said, ‘Aren’t you Timothy Carey? Didn’t you do The World's greatest sinner?" I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I always wanted to see that movie- Do you have a 16 mm version?’ I only had a 35 mm, but we proceeded to talk about it. He knew all about it. I only had four prints. That was one of the reasons that I didn't send it. All hail the King! Oh, and Elvis too."

"The first thing I think of when I think about coming to Las Vegas and playing is always Elvis, it's always the first thing on my mind. When we were working on 'The Joke, my producer Dave Cobb wanted me to understand the emotion and intensity in a song, so suggested my listening to 'American Trilogy'"

"Elvis? He was a bogus white guy with sex appeal and good looks who ripped off a lot of great black music, watered it down and made it safe for lame whites who couldnt handle the experience of raw emotional black music. Never grew as an artist, remained an entertainer. Fuck Elvis""

"Both came from humble backgrounds and meteorically captured their respective fields in a way that seemed to break entirely with the past and they both went into film as a means of exploring the mythic dimensions of their celebrity."

"In 1957, I traveled for the Toronto Telegram to Buffalo for Elvis' first concert there. I observed that he was a quiet, soft-spoken fellow, not so much affected by his new-found stardom as bewildered by it. He was savvy enough to hoist himself onto a backstage sawhorse so that, in a photo of the two, he appeared much taller than me, though the difference was actually only an inch. That photo became my treasured family memento."

"The success of posthumous duets is often indirectly correlated to the respect with which the dearly departed is treated: the higher the pedestal, the less convincing the result. Wisely, the female country stars on “Christmas Duets” try to match Elvis Presley's mood, whether it's Carrie Underwood's tenderness on “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (1957), or Wynonna Judd's brawn on “Santa Claus Is Back in Town.” (1957), On a wild eight-minute “Merry Christmas Baby,”(1971), Gretchen Wilson saunters up to the song, full of attitude, before giving in; it sounds as if she's flirting with Mr. Presley just across the bar."

"i) In dealing with "Elvis", I am bringing a lot of my own feelings, because I really love Elvis, loved his music, in some sense, I feel lucky to direct a movie about a man who was bigger than life, a human being, yes, but who became mythical.ii) The biggest problem with Kurt Russell playing Elvis were his ears. They're like cab doors sticking out LOL, so we had to tape [them] down against him. It was unbelievable.It was an incredible effort on his part. He became Elvis up there. And he has a tin ear. He can't sing. He can't do anything. Lip syncing away, lip-syncing his heart out. And literally he was that performer. He became Elvis."

"I wanted to meet him so a few friends from Jackson and I traveled to Memphis on Jan. 18, 1971, to the Jaycees' 10 Outstanding Young Men of America ceremony. Elvis was the final recipient that evening at the old Ellis Auditorium. Of course, every one was trying to get to Elvis,but security would stop them and send them back. It looked like I wasn't going to meet him, after all. But my friends kept urging me, ‘Go on, Martha. Go see him.’ We were only about 40 feet from him. So I finally walked over toward him.” I was stopped by security, only to have Elvis step in: “Let her come on,” he said. I had my program for him to sign, and he did. Then Elvis said, ‘Would you like my water glass?’ I said, ‘Yes, please.’ He said, ‘Would you like my nametag?’ ‘Of course,’ I told him. That water glass has never been cleaned. It's in a shadow box with the nametag in the glass and the autographed program displayed. His DNA has never been washed out of that glass — and never will be.And the man who presented Elvis his award, George H. W. Bush, became America's 41st president 18 years later."

"I was 34 when I met him. You had to realize that my father, being Mexican American, was very, very strict. He never allowed us to hear rock 'n roll or anything on the radio. Anything that had to do with music was the Big Band era with the records they had and/or the ranchera Mexican American music and the Mexican artists. So, when I would hear about Elvis, Elvis, Elvis, I could not relate to the hysteria. Okay, so I was in Vegas and I was engaged to this doctor who took care of Elvis when he was there. One day he said, "Elvis wants to meet you." so I said, "Oh, yeah. Right!" He said, "No. Really. So, we went to his show, but my attitude was like "Show me!" I was looking at the show, obviously as a fellow performer the overall look of the show, the staging, the lighting and I was so impressed. Then his singers came out, The Sweet Inspirations. They were incredible. So, then he came out in his white suit. I noticed his stance and I'm thinking to myself, he is standing up there very sure of himself. Plant yourself well and the way his fingers would kind of bend. Of course now everybody's going crazy and I'm looking around and going, "Wow!" Then towards the end of the show he says, "Now I'd like to introduce one of the greatest singers because she sings from her gut" and I'm looking around because the people are all screaming and I said, "Oh, my God, who the heck is here?" (Laughs). He says, Miss. Vikki Carr!" My fiance said, "Vikki, stand up!" I said, "I'm trying to. My brain is saying stand, but my legs won't work. So, I finally stood up and then Elvis has his hand out. So, I went up and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. And then he dedicated It's now or never to me.He was wonderful to me."

"As explained by his wife and stylist Almudena Navalón, his fantastic "look" at concerts is inspired by the outfits used by music megastars as Elvis, Freddy Mercury or Mick Jagger."

"As the "The Times" correspondent reminds him of Elvis Presley, he pauses, then reconsiders, "Oh yes, I think he was a fantastic artist and the best in his field. Absolutely."

"When I was about five years old, they again showed "Aloha from Hawaii" here in my country, Norway. I had my parents wrapped around my finger, so they would let me stay up and watch it, because it was on after midnight. I was so amazed by the performance........."

"That is why we can waste no time promoting legitimate role models. This is where N.B.A. players come in. In 1956, Elvis Presley received his polio vaccine before one of his appearances on television, launching a highly effective vaccination campaign that by 1960 had reduced annual occurrences of polio by 90 percent. Health policy professionals suggest that public health campaigns using celebrities should focus on celebrities who are influential in particular communities in order to build trust. N.B.A. players, 81.1 percent of whom are Black, appeal to the under-35 and African-American demographics"

"It's probably asking too much that “Ruben Brandt, Collector” sustain its pop-art ebullience across its entire running time. But the dips are hardly depressions, and there's nearly always a frisky detail to enjoy or virtuosic tableau to bathe in, all of it augmented wonderfully by Tibor Cári's appealing score. Mostly, though, Krstić, whose background encompasses set design and sculpture, painting and photography, has shown everybody how to throw down the first-feature gauntlet at the age of 66: with Warhol's holstered “Elvis I & II” facing down our hero and declaring, “Draw!”"

"By honoring Presley with the Medal of Freedom, the President paid tribute to someone who arguably did as much to bridge the cultural and racial divide as anyone who ever lived, an impressive and unifying act from someone usually considered the most divisive of presidents."

"In 2004,at age 13, I became such an Elvis fan that I wanted to either marry him or be him, then I made my parents listen. He is my mentor..."

"Songwriter Earl Brown was tapped to create a special finale song that reflected Elvis' emotions about the social upheaval of the time. According to the show's director , the resulting song, “If I Can Dream,” was recorded with Elvis in the dark, almost in a fetal position, writhing on top of the studio's cement floor. And when he got done, Elvis came in the control room and asked for the song to be played more than a dozen times. Later, Binder also crafted a gospel segment populated with racially diverse singers and dancers, which he knew would spotlight the Southern-born Presley's disdain for prejudice. Fittingly, it was the highest-rated TV special of 1968 and signalled the rebirth of Elvis's career."

"I loved Elvis since i was a kid, as my dad was a huge Elvis fan. His range was incredible high, or low and he could croon. His impact on me was his love of African American music."

"I am reminded of a comment made shortly after the death of Elvis Presley by a musician he had worked with. He pointed out that despite an impressive vocal range of two and a half octaves and something approaching perfect pitch, Elvis was totally willing to sing off-key when he thought the song required it. Those off-key notes were art."

"I hate that I missed Elvis and I wish I would have had a chance to see him"

"Black culture has historically pioneered music, dance, fashion, and it’s then been emarketed as Elvis (Presley) or whatever....."

"I was there taking in the show when it happened. Out of the crowd, I can still see it, an orange, medium sized frisbee comes floating up. I'm like ' Oh, that's going to make the stage. It did. It sailed right into Elvis, smacking him just above his right eyebrow. Bam!! I watched closely as Elvis, just a few feet away from me, absorbed the blow, then imagined the worst. He dropped to one knee, looked me right in the eye — I think he thought I was a bodyguard and not the curtain raiser I was that night — and said. 'I've been shot'. "No, Elvis, it's just a frisbee" I said. Not an attempted assassination, just one more painful byproduct of fame, I thought. "Oh," responded Elvis, then got back to his feet and started singing again. Like he always did. For that night, at least, the show wasn't over...."

"He was an extraordinary figure of his and our time, his legacy tremendous in terms of the music he created, his films, and as an entertainment personality. The generosity that he showed toward others is simply remarkable and I think it's these aspects of his character, his persona, that make him such a special person."

"In an era when radio stations refused to play Chuck Berry songs, calling it “race music”, Elvis broke down barriers."

"I've kind of been infatuated with Elvis since I was a kid, just always watching documentaries and stuff on him. It had a little bit to do with that and, honestly, I just wanted him to have something that wasn't very common."

"When Elvis Presley died in 1977 I was no more than six. On that summer night in August I was sitting between my parents in my grandfather’s house in Italy where we were spending the summer holiday. We were watching television, then delivering to viewers the news of his death, with scenes of fans wailing at the departure of the artist who had engaged the world with his music and gyrating dancing, and personal charisma that made him adored by girls and an inspiration for boys. Last Thursday, at around midnight I received a call from one of my friends telling me that Michael Jackson had died, and one website confirmed the news even before CNN had. Both of them died, and there have still been those who say that death has not touched them and that they still live amongst us with their music and greatness."

"As a child, I saw Elvis Presley. So that was something, I mean he was this person with a guitar and that was the image I wanted to be. I wanted to be a musician so I got my first guitar when I was thirteen years old, and I felt, oh man, now that I have the guitar, I got the music. But it started from that...."

"Let us remember that Elvis’s style — which often included all-leather outfits and flashy jumpsuits — was also controversial for its mid-century time period. So, is Post Malone truly our modern-day Presley? Judging by his care-free attitude and penchant for leather Cuban heeled boots —another, Presley favorite—the verdict would appear to be yes."

"I was standing in the hallway, just before the show, and one of the managers told him there was a girl on the telephone who was in the hospital. She said she had tickets for the show but couldn't come as she had a serious illness. And Elvis said, 'I want to talk to her', so he marched into a room and held up the entire show for fifteen minutes to talk to that girl, asking her several questions, with warmth and interest. Just before hanging up, I remember he said, 'No, honey I don't have a blue Cadillac. I've got a pink one, a black one, a white one – a pause, and then he said, oh yeah, I do have a blue one'. He was a gentleman and I respected that immensely."

"It embodies everything I look for in a tune, simple and striking at the same time"

"Rock n' roll, through Elvis, became a target of southern segregationists, who believed that race mixing led, inevitably, to miscegenation and that exposure to black culture promoted juvenile delinquency and sexual immorality"