American Country Singers

"Thanks to Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, Aug. 16 forever will be known, to quote a song from my youth, as the day the music died. We don't agree about much as a country and a people now. We find some of the silliest reasons imaginable to turn disagreements into arguments, arguments into fights, fights into brawls and brawls into wars. But most of us did agree about Elvis. And Aretha. More important, we agreed that we wanted to live in a country where stories like theirs were possible. We wanted an America in which the son of an ex-convict Southern sharecropper and day laborer could vault from working as a truck driver to becoming a king. And we wanted a land in which a black, teenage, unwed mother could leap from being in the choir in her father's church to becoming a queen. Elvis and Aretha became royalty the same way – through hard work, by breaking down barriers and by being talented. So talented. Perhaps it was a coincidence that they both died on Aug. 16. Maybe it was a quirk of fate. Possibly a message from the universe. All I know is that, for a lot of us, that date will be the day the music died, the anniversary of when the King and the Queen left us. Long may they reign."

"It was King Creole, the title of an Elvis movie from 1958, morphing with a south London accent into “King Krule"."

"When I was first becoming a songwriter, I never would have dreamed that Elvis would sing not just one of my songs but three of them and with so much soul. I feel a lot of gratitude for that."

"It's almost like seeing Elvis."

"Love songs are like a fairy tale, but a musical form. Any love songs that are old school, but have a nostalgic feeling to them, I love. My favorite is Elvis ' Can't Help Falling in Love. It's such a romantic song, Whenever you listen to it, it gives you that warm feeling inside, very comforting, that you could find somebody that loves you that much one day."

"On October 28th, 1956. Elvis Presley, who, just a month earlier, had set the world record for most viewed telecast in TV history, takes the stage of the Ed Sullivan Show for the second time. He gyrates through “Don’t Be Cruel,” shakes out “Hound Dog” thus cementing himself in the collective memory of an entire generation one shake, rattle and roll at a time. On October 29th, 1956 the L.A Times columnist Dick Williams writes, “Sexhibitionist Elvis Presley has come at last in person to a visibly palpitating, adolescent female Los Angeles to give all the little girls’ libidos the jolt of their lives.” And while Elvis’ three performances on Ed Sullivan are all well-situated in the pantheon of American music history, Williams thought little of it, concluding, “If any further proof were needed that what Elvis offers is not basically music but a sex show, it was provided last night.” Presley, sober and Christian, saw his act as art. To Williams it was pornography. Elvis was dancing to his own music, consumed with passion. Williams wasn't even listening."

"Beyond the ambiance, it really is all about the wine, the so-called "one-off" reds, whites and rosés all bottled with artistic labels sold at the winery, online, and as part of Tank Garage's wine club. The production facility doesn't host customers but they do have a special guest in there: Elvis!! They have installed a 40-foot mural of Elvis Presley overlooking the cellar and they often ask themselves while putting together the blends, 'What would Elvis do?"

"When I turned 14, in 1989, I moved to Moscow and discovered the life of underground bohemia, it was the Perestroika years and I became involved with a counterculture circle of Soviet hipsters. We called ourselves “Stilyagi", were all (finally) allowed to listen to Elvis Presley and went to Viktor Tsoi’s concerts."

"In a sudden gesture of respect in Las Vegas, Elvis Presley had taken the robe off his back and given it to Ali..."

"Elmer nodded hello — we were the only ones at the cemetery — and he took that as an invitation to shuffle over, his generous smile emphasizing how glad he was to meet me. After some small talk, I was anxious to be alone so I could have a silent conversation with my grandmother and he obliged, walking away. This second encounter at the cemetery seemed uncanny. Sorry that I'd brushed him off the first time, I engaged the conversation, learning about his wife, who had passed in 1985. When he jumped to describing how he liked making cheesecake topped with strawberries, his blue eyes brightened. I found him charming. As I left, I told him I'd look forward to running into him again sometime. On my next visit to the cemetery, I was startled: on my grandmother's headstone hung a clear plastic baggie, attached with duct tape, holding a note. In sloppy cursive, above a phone number, it read: “I’m getting things to make cheesecake for you. Call me. Elmer.” Although I had never met an elderly man in the cemetery to receive a homemade cheesecake, I didn't hesitate. His generosity toward my family and me quickly progressed. He volunteered to plant flowers at my grandmother's grave to replace my artificial flowers. He started leaving surprise deliveries on our front porch every week: pumpkins for the kids, treats for our dog, birdseed and Elvis Presley commemorative coins. Gradually, he scaled back on both deliveries and expectations. Some people we pull into our orbit and others, like Elmer, make a surprise landing with flares. For five years, he and I remained friends. A year ago, at 87, he passed away..."

"Do what you can to ensure your baby enters the world in the month of January. That's apparently when the brightest and best are most likely to surface, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Social Sciences. Luminaries like Jeff Bezos, legendary physicist Stephen Hawking, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, NHL great Wayne Gretzky, and such celebrities as David Bowie, Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley were all born in January."

"My Hulk/Elvis series draws a parallel between Presley's status to that of the Hulk, representing celebrity and pop cult"

"At a time when men of color and white men could not drink out of the same water fountain, my great friend the late Otis Blackwell and Elvis were rocking the world. Now, I'm trying to bring us some new music from Otis, made today in today's feel, but sort of "old school meets new". It's gonna be another 'All Shook Up,' another 'Return To Sender,' I am thanking anyone and everyone right now, because we are going to be a team and do this, and do this together. It was never about color, it wasn't about status, it was about the music."

"i) Yes, I really love Elvis He is the best and a class by himself when he sings rock or ballads or any type of songs. I never get tired of listening no matter how many times I hear him over more than 40 years in my life. Above all, I like his songs, say, ‘I Want You, I Need You, I Love You’ and ‘Hawaiian Wedding Song’. I almost forgot to say this: my birthday is January 8, the same day of Elvis. ii) Love me tender, love me true..."

"It's not that President Trump can't win a “war” with Steve Bannon. He can, but if the president is Elvis to Bannon's Ozzy Osborne, well, Ozzy still has his fans."

"In 1955 I saw Elvis in Amarillo, TX and he told me "Man, if you've got a band and some good songs, get into a recording studio cause something is fixing to happen."

"Last night, at the House of Commons, there was no quorum. Out of our 259 members only 37 were present. The missing ones went with their kids to see Elvis."

"I'm working with a studio in the US from January. So maybe mid-year there might be something."

"i) Watching Elvis perform on the Ed Sullivan Show with my father, I saw how he looked at me, with real horror, that I liked it. Elvis Presley was a beautiful young person whose recordings were just colossally great. But basically the best stuff he ever did was on the Sun record label. ii) In many respects, thinking about it, the movies were a bigger draw to American rockers when they were kids because Elvis wanted to be James Dean and Marlon Brando. I remember being surprised when I heard that Elvis wanted to be a movie star, and that was kind of disappointing because, to me, he was the total rockstar.”"

"I'm in awe of people who've accomplished wonderful things and succeed. It was really something when I met Walter Payton. He was just the most humble person that I had ever met and I just met Beyoncé and I really have a lot of respect and admiration for her and the success that she's had. And when I ran across Elvis Presley""

"My first association is Elvis. I was so shocked when I read that he was 42 when he died. That's so young. How can I be older than Elvis when he died? He was the only American that everyone knew in our culture. My father loved him, and it's what we grew up with. He was this godlike creature. The day he died, I was nine. I remember taking the bus to school and someone said ‘Elvis is dead’. And everyone kept saying it: ‘Elvis is dead, Elvis is dead, Elvis is dead’. We didn't cry, because we were too young, but it made such an impression. I can't think of anyone with that kind of influence now."

"My favorite aspect of Presley's career was whatever day it was when he recorded “Suspicious Minds"."

"This mission, or the extension of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) will let implement such provisions of the Minsk agreement as the disarmament of illegal armed groups, the formation, monitoring and verification of the withdrawal of Russian troops and military hardware, ensure distribution of humanitarian aid, ensure proper conditions for local elections under the OSCE standards. I urge the Security Council once again to take the lead in establishing such a mission. Just two weeks ago, we exchanged a Russian major for one of our hostages. Of course, the Russian side can also claim that Elvis is alive, but no amount of lies will change the facts.""

"Today, the price tag for the car and restoration is around NOK 180 million (USD 18 million).."

"I always have to go back to the way Elvis Presley or James Brown would have held themselves. And Elvis could just sort of stand there and just be very casual and very cool. And James Brown was so acrobatic. And such a showman. Of course, Elvis’ influence on the band extends beyond our live performances. I wanted to outdo my bandmate’s outfits, so I decided to draw inspiration from Elvis' 1970s wardrobe, as well as Elizabeth Taylor’s looks in the film Cleopatra. I would would draw outfits with colored pencils and work with fashion designer Amber Doyle to bring them to life. Some of my outfits are pretty similar to the white jumpsuits Elvis wore during the last leg of his career. In addition, our band has covered the classic early rock ‘n’ roll tune “That’s All Right.” Countless rock ‘n’ roll bands wouldn’t be the same without Elvis’ influence and our band is no exception."

"Elvis Presley is my favorite singer and my favorite film is "Elvis On Tour"."

"I was ushering here in Los Angeles at the "Vogue Theater", that's how I supported myself before I started acting, and about ten o'clock one night a Mercedes Benz 600 Limo bigger than this room, with Elvis in it, pulled up. And I guess at one point in his life Elvis must have made a deal with God, that God would let him be Elvis if Elvis promised he never let anyone forget seeing him. And I say this because when he got out of the Mercedes he was decked out in such a way that, you know, Priscilla Presley is a beautiful woman, right? And she was standing next to him, right? Well, I never saw her. I didn't see anybody and there were 24 people with him. As I was telling you earlier, I was in show business since I was a kid and I was never thrown by any celebrity, but when I saw him walking towards me, I went limp. I froze. And all I could say was "It's the King, It's the King, It's the King, the King's here". And he said, "Thank you very much...""

"In 1970, once Ray had seen Elvis in Las Vegas, now that was what you could call flash, he would say, that was the start of a huge rift between him and the rest of Kinks. Now it was going to be Ray's dressing room, his bottle of champagne, his limo. He obviously had got it in his mind that he was going to be like Elvis and that the rest of us were HIS band."

"Elvis Presley's talent brightened millions of lives. He widened the horizons of my world certainly. The first record I ever owned was a 78 rpm of "Hound Dog" backed by "Don't Be Cruel" and when I listened to those tunes I felt about ten feet tall and I grinned so hard that I felt like the corners of my mouth would meet in the back and the tip of my head would simply topple off. All I know about R&R is that it makes people feel good. Elvis Presley more than made me feel good, he enriched my life and made it better."

"I may be the King in Los Angeles but there's only one King."

"Elvis performed twice at the Miami Beach Convention Center in 1970, arriving in Miami International Airport, where a helicopter brought him over to Miami Beach at the helipad. A limo picked him up there and drove him 10 blocks to the Convention Center. Just before leaving Miami, he got back in the limo to go back to the helicopter and on the way there he said to the limo driver, "Do you own this limo, or do you work for the company?" And the driver said, "I work for the company." And he said, "Now, you own it." The limo driver's tip was the limo."

"My dad penned an as-yet unpublished volume which he titled "Rock 'n Roll: Triumph Over Chaos", There's an enormous amount of unspoken-of history of my dad and Elvis' relationship. Actually, his relationship with my entire family. A lot of people think he was a prejudiced kind of human being but that's not true. He spent a lot of his life with my father and my uncle, at my grandmother's home. They were very close.""

"As you know I'm trying to be one of the best and hopefully it can happen. Elvis is down in the books as a great one and I'm really happy to actually be here, around his surroundings, around his homeland."

"I altered my stage name to King because of my love for horse racing, but also after my favourite singer, Elvis Presley."

"i) While they were civil, they never really had much to say and I might feel a chill between them and me. But Elvis was different. I remember him distinctly because (inter-alia) he was friendly, polite to a fault, spoke with this thick molasses southern accent and always called me 'sir'. I liked that. When he appeared at the Goodwill Revue, a yearly benefit for needy black kids sponsored by WDIA, he did himself proud. Remember this was the fifties so for a young white boy, by then a big, big star to show up in an all-black function in 1957 took "guts". I believe he was showing his roots and he seemed proud of those roots. ii) I hold no grudges. Elvis didn't steal any music from anyone. He just had his own interpretation of the music he'd grown up on, same was true for me, the same true for everyone. I think Elvis had integrity (In fact), more than anyone, he was the guy who kicked the revolution into high gear. (Moreover) what most people don't know is that this boy was serious about what he was doing, he was carried away by it. When I was in Memphis with my band, he used to stand in the wings and watch us perform. As for fading away, rock and roll is here to stay and so, I believe, is Elvis. He's been a shot in the arm to the business and all I can say is ‘that’s my man’. iii) In the 1970's, I decided to try my luck in Vegas and Frank Sinatra helped get me into the lounge at Caesar's Palace. That was my first venture into big-time Vegas. But my second involved Elvis. It was Elvis who encouraged the Hilton to book me in the lounge while he was playing in the showroom. My band and our lounge act was strong and if it had been any other entertainer other than Elvis, we might have even drained business away from that showroom. But it was Elvis.. iv) to me they didn't make a mistake when they called him the King."

"It was a revelation in a lot of ways. You could really only compare it to music, bands like The Beatles and Elvis, where things actually changed."

"Ali was at an Elvis show in Las Vegas and asked to meet him. He was taken to the dressing room and Elvis did his karate motions while Ali did his shadow boxing, facing one another. It was Unreal"

"Elvis had risen to fame in the 1950s under the guidance of manager Colonel Tom Parker – real name Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk – an illegal immigrant from Holland who was terrified of leaving the United States lest he be deported, so Elvis never went on the lucrative international tours that are the lifeblood of most musical acts. Colour television in Australia was still more than half a decade away, but even in black and white, Elvis was mesmerising, marching triumphantly on to the stage for what was billed as the biggest benefit satellite television entertainment event of all time. And, in Brisbane, barely a television screen had anything else"."

"Elvis was great, and it took me so long to realize it. As I got older, I figured this man was the real deal."

"“How would I describe it? Elvis Presley. Michael Jackson"

"The most popular thing in American culture is Elvis Presley"

"In Memphis, we listened to Blind Mississippi Morris belt out BB King's classic in a bar on Beale Street. But it was another King, he with an affinity for Kahlil Gibran, who was beckoning me. I expected Elvis Presley's Graceland to be a temple of tacky brimming with shag rugs and frequented by zealous impersonators in blinged-out one-pieces. We scoffed when the woman selling tickets said the tour could take three hours. We ended up needing four. Sobia and I found many nationalities. "So many people try to copy him, but he was the ultimate,” said Rishi Khanna, a fan since his youth in India, “Elvis’s music is from the divine.”"

"Just the sight of seeing that music being played live and this feeling that was just so different from anything prior to that. That had a hell of an impact on me. I didn’t know what I was gonna do or how I was gonna do it, but I knew that I had to be a part of this somehow.”"

"Elvis propositioned the both of us, saying bluntly that he really liked our butts. My sister and I were both unimpressed as rock'n'roll wasn't our thing at all. At any rate, good looking men are not for either of us. Just Imagine waking up in the morning to the horrible feeling of being in bed with someone who looks much better than you do (LOL)"

"They are some of the most iconic and unique displays of architecture, each home with a distinct style reflecting its location, history, or previous owner. Ahead, find out which are the most photographed, starting with Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley."

"I always argued that Elvis was arguably, potentially a very good actor. Barbra Streisand wanted him to play opposite her, but Col Parker stopped it. That would have been something to dream about."

"Don't worry, Elvis, Cary cries at everything that is beautiful. Ballet. Paintings. Sculptures. Poetry. You.""

"When he bought the first Stutz Blackhawk ever made, it had been ordered for Frank Sinatra but they sold it to Elvis, so Frank vowed he would never buy one because in the pecking order, nobody could compare with Elvis and even to this day, nobody ever has,,,"

"He was a nice guy, a perfect soldier who didn’t do anything wrong in his two years. It was awesome to meet him, especially for a little old farm boy like me. It was like, ‘How did this happen?’ It was pretty neat, there’s no question about it. When he died, that was so sad because he still had so many good years ahead of him, It was shocking that would happen. He was the best entertainer in the country ever.”"

"My mom had me at 21, and hers had her at 21, so I think 25 is too old. Marriage is just something I wanted to experience in my lifetime, to be honest. As to being the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, it did help me in the business. I'm very privileged, like the normal story of moving to LA and it takes you three years to find an agent? I got one in a week"