Emily Drinkard

Emily Drinkard, known professionally as Cissy Houston, was one of the founding members of The Sweet Inspirations which were hired to sing backing vocals for Elvis on his return to live performances during July and August 1969.

Everybody in the Elvis World knows Cissy Houston's soprano voice because it is her you hear on the infamous 1969 Laughing Version of Are You Lonesome Tonight.

By September 1969, Cissy had grown tired of performing on the road as her three children were growing up. That month, she decided to quit The Sweet Inspirations and stop touring to stay at home while also settling on a solo career.

Cissy's versatile cross-genre singing style kept her highly in demand as a session musician with some of the great recording artists. She recorded more than 600 songs in her career, which culminated with two Grammy Award wins, both in the Traditional Gospel Album category.

Clever Creations

In the Elvis World it is common knowledge that Bill Belew designed Elvis' jumpsuits. And yes, initially Belew did design Elvis' jumpsuits from 1969 onwards. However, from 1972 onwards Bill was in big demand and that was the moment that Gene Doucette came into the picture.

Bill would give Gene the blank suits and Gene would make the designs of the more elaborate suits for Elvis, such as the Aloha, Peacock, Tiger, American Eagle and Sundial suits.

And yes, Gene also created the custom made boxing robe that Elvis gifted to Muhammad Ali. Unfortunately, Gene received incorrect instructions for the order, which was supposed to be the "People's Champ". Gene Doucette worked quietly in the background and ultimately never met die man who took such delight in his clever creations.

Memories

Dave Hebler, a 10th degree Black Belt, served as one of Elvis' personal bodyguards and Kenpo instructor from 1972 to 1976. 

Recently he was back in Memphis for the FIRST time since Elvis' passing and he reminisced about his times with Elvis at the Memphian movie theatre and on the road:

The Memphian was a very important part of Elvis' life. I remember the Peter Sellers movies, he liked that. As far as protecting Elvis, using my skills was no easy task. Being Elvis' bodyguard was the worse job on the face of the planet! I mean, think about it: everywhere we went there were hundreds of love-starved women just doing their best to try to get next to Elvis. Being Elvis' bodyguard and personal karate instructor was a once in a life time experience, though I have such great memories of that time.

Francis Zambon

Mark James, born as Francis Zambon, is a well-known American songwriter, 5 years younger than Elvis, and hailing from Houston, TX. In High School he played the violin and accordion, but really fell in love with music when he picked up a guitar. He wrote songs and performed in clubs, changing his name to Mark James. He wanted to record his own songs himself and formed a band, The Mark James Trio, but he received only a minor hit.

Then Mark was drafted to serve in Vietnam. In 1968, after his discharge, he moved to Memphis to work as a staff songwriter for producer Chips Moman. In the same year he penned and recorded Suspicious Minds by himself but it failed to chart.

A year later Elvis picked this song at his American Sound Studio recordings and the rest is history. James had explained that the song related to his complex emotions around being married but being in love with his childhood sweetheart. He went on to write more than 300 songs in a career that spanned 7 decades.

All in all, Elvis recorded 5 of Mark's compositions:

1. Suspicious Minds

2. It's Only Love

3. Always On My Mind

4. Raised On Rock

5. Moody Blue

James' most successful composition is Always On My Mind. 300 Singers recorded it. Willie Nelson's cover made it a huge hit and Mark won 2 Grammy's. In 2015 Mark James entered The Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Was Elvis Interested?

The year 1959, Elvis' full year in Germany in the army, is more or less a "missing" year in Elvis history. We do not know that much about Elvis' life during this time frame. 

Take for example the story about a certain German actress, Vera Tschechowa - 18 years old at the time - who tried to meet Elvis when he was on field training exercises. That didn't work out, but Vera soon got a lucky break because she was hired to pose for publicity photos with Elvis for The March of Dimes campaign.

After their photoshoot Elvis and Vera posed for a formal portrait which appeared on the cover of the German magazine called Funk Illustrierte. During that day Elvis and Vera also visited the Frankfort Zoo, spending some quality time together.

After a while Vera visited Elvis in Bad Nauheim, and a few months later Elvis surprised her with a return visit that lasted 4 days. During this visit they frequented the Moulin Rouge and other night clubs in Munich.

Was Elvis interested in Vera? Who knows. To Vera, however, it was all priceless free publicity that she as a young and emerging actress was interested in.