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.

Red Robinson

Robert "Red" Robertson is part of the 50s Elvis story. Red was a Canadian disc jockey and Elvis fan. He was the first DJ to play rock 'n' roll music in Vancouver, Canada. On 31 August 1957 he was also the MC for Elvis' rock 'n' roll concert at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver in front of 25,000 fans.

Robinson taped Elvis' dressing room press conference before the concert. It was released on an album in 1977, named The ELVIS Tapes. 

Red described the Elvis concert in Vancouver as troublesome pandemonium: 

There were policemen there, but not enough of them. Fans furthest away from every corner of the stadium came to the front to get a better look at Elvis and then returned to their seats. However, the gathering in front of the stage, the first five or six people deep, was where the problem was; that was where the fear was. At the end Elvis finished his set and tore down the back stairs. He took off his jacket and handed it to his cousin Gene, who got into the limo. The kids followed the limo while Elvis stayed behind till it was safe for him to get out. 

Lord Elgin

 

Elvis owned this 4-carat gold-filled Lord Elgin wristwatch with black face from spring of 1955 to April of 1956.

He can be seen wearing it on stage during his first national TV appearance on the Stage Show in New York.

Guess who he gifted this watch to? Guitar player Scotty Moore! He did so while he and his band were sitting poolside at the New Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas, on 25 April 1956.

Not long ago this same gold-filled Lord Elgin was sold for a cool R5 million.

In South African terms, that is a pension right there.

Diane McBain

Diane McBain was best known for her part in the 1966 Elvis movie, Spinout, one of my Top 3 Elvis feature films. She played the role of an author who was in the process of writing her new book, titled The Perfect American Male.

McBain, who was 6 years younger than Elvis, said that Elvis was charming and a lovely person to work with. She appreciated that Elvis didn't come on to her, because so many men did throughout her career in Hollywood.

McBain reminisced: We had a really nice friendship on set. He was a spiritual guy, and he love to read anything about being spiritual. I, too was fascinated by those things. So we bonded over that. We used to exchange books on set and we would have conversations all the time about being spiritual. Elvis really wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. He had a lot of trouble trying to convince them into putting him in more serious roles. He embraced our film beautifully and he did a great job on set. He was, of course, very special but I don't think he saw himself that way.

Armond Morales

The Imperials is a southern gospel quartet who sang backup for Elvis from 1969-1971. They also recorded with Elvis in sessions from 1966-1971, including on the Grammy Award-winning How Great Thou Art and He Touched Me album sessions.

During the 1960s The Imperials became pioneers of contemporary Christian music. Armond Morales was a founding member of The Imperials and fondly remember the group going to Graceland, riding around in golf carts, attending movies after hours and riding on a plane with Elvis.

Armond recalls: We were in Las Vegas at the International Hotel, practicing, and all the singers were in one section and the rhythm section was in another area, and Elvis was in the middle with the microphone. In the middle of rehearsal he just stopped and stomped his foot. He said, "I don't know what's wrong with you people", and he stomped out the door. He said, "Armond come out here." And I walked out the door, wondering what was going on. Elvis said: "I scare them, didn't I?" Turns out he was just having fun and joking.

Happy Birthday, Vernon.

On this day, 55 years ago, Elvis gives his father a stunning 14 carat yellow gold Omega watch as a gift for his birthday. The face of the watch is accented with 46 round diamonds and the back is engraved with the following words:

Happy Birthday, Dad. Love, Elvis. April 10, 1969.