Death Dates Of Friends Of Elvis

D. J. Fontana died a few days ago, on June 13, 2018.
He was an early drummer for Elvis starting with the Louisiana Hayride.

Red West 7:18:17. Bodyguard and song writer.

Sonny West, cousin of Red. Another bodyguard. 5/24/2017. Both of them wrote a tell-all book after Elvis fired them.

Joe Esposito 11/23/2016. Best friend of Elvis. Met him in the Army while in Germany.

Scotty Moore 6/28/2016. Super guitarist of early Elvis days. Was on the comeback show in 1968.

Joe Moscheo 1/11/2016. Sang with the Imperials who backed Elvis before J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet.

Joe Guercio 1/4/ 2015. Orchestra leader, song arranger.

Sherrill Nielsen 12/10/ 2010. A member of Voice. Elvis featured him in several solo efforts.

Charlie Hodge 3/3/ 2006. Good friend of Elvis since Army days. Virtual floor manager of the shows.

Sam Phillips 6/30/ 2003. Sun Records producer who wanted to find a white singer with a negro sound (as he said)

J. D. Sumner 11/16/1998. Bass singer extraordinaire. I met him before and after the death of Elvis. Would have liked to have had a "well-off" with him.

Bill Black 10/21/1965. Bass player with Elvis in the early days.
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Among the still living are James Burton, his guitarist of later years. Play it James."

Ronnie Tutt. Incredible drummer. "Hardest working man in showbiz."

George Klein --friend since High School. radio and TV show host.

Of course a lot of his girl friends are still living. But I won't go into that here.

 

I went to seven of his concerts. I know a lot of Elvis trivia --his recordings and facts about his life. I guess you might say I have an interest in his history.

His piano player Glen Hardin is still with us. He turned 79 a few months ago.

 

I don't refer to him as that. He was the king of music. He mastered all kinds of musical styles. He was the song man.

On YouTube you can listen to him doing a lot of songs in private that many folks would never even guess he'd do or could do.

I also like to listen to alternate takes.

I enjoy his humor and that laugh of his is infectious.

Many Americans would be hard pressed to name more than half a dozen of his song titles. Plenty of his quality songs have gone unnoticed.

 

Some songs he did in concert that were not put in classic vinyl (don't know about CDs)

The 12th Of Never
Turn Around, Look At Me
When The Snow Is On The Roses
You're The Reason I'm Living
Folsom Prison Blues
I Walk The Line
You Can Have Her
Auld Lang Syne
America The Beautiful
Lady Madonna*
Get Back*

* Captured on film, so not in private, as such.

 

Some religious songs that he did in private:

The Lord's Prayer
Oh Happy Day*
He
Hide Thou Me
Rock Of Ages
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
He's Only A Prayer Away
I Asked The Lord
When The Saints Go Marching In
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus*
Nearer My God To Thee*
Show Me Thy Ways, Oh Lord

* Captured on film, so not in private as such

 

Ask me harder questions. He did 33, but the last two were concert documentaries.

I'll ask you first and I'll respond a few hours from now.

In your opinion what were his five best films and his five worst ones?

 

I'm not setting the record straight here Glen. I just asked for your opinion.

Now I have to change it from the top five films to 7!

Follow That Dream
It's a comedy with some pretty good songs. It still makes me chuckle.

There is a courtroom scene near the end that gets quite dramatic and you hang on his words.

Of course the very close of the movie he sings Angel to Anne Helm and that's just about perfect.

As a boy Tom Petty visited the set down there in Florida and was hooked Elvis.

King Creole

Originally it was going to be called A Stone For Danny Fisher.

He gets to show considerable dramatic skills.

Flaming Star

A good role for him. I enjoyed it --although it's been maybe 20 years or more since I saw it.

Wild In The Country

Critics say it's lie Peyton Place as far as the plot is concerned. However, he did a real good turn in this movie. You can
see glimpses where if he had been given a more meaty role it would have been even more impressive.

He had three girlfriends in this film. I liked him with Tuesday Weld and Hope Lange

He played a character with the name Glen.

Viva Las Vegas

Well, the music was super. C'mon Everybody, The Lady Loves Me, Today, Tomorrow and Forever are the standouts.

The last one I mentioned is so much better than Love Me Tender. You should listen to the full version which was not featured in the movie. Ann Margaret sings with Elvis and it's remarkable.

Oh, I forgot. There's another song that was not included in the movie but features El and A-M. You're The Boss.

G.I Blues

Is certainly a classic. Lots of good tunes --a good mix of rock and ballads.

Notice his right hand. It's swollen as he injured it in karate practice.

Wooden Heart is featured in a puppet routine --very memorable. But once in concert in 1974 as he sang that song and stopped. The audience wasn't into that particular song.

Blue Hawaii

Beautiful scenery and some of his best songs. A very enjoyable movie. Can't Help Falling In Love was introduced in this movie.

 

Well, I had listed my seven favorite films of his. Now I will list what I think are his six worst ones.

Clambake
Harum Scarum
Live a Little, Love a Little
Spinout
Easy Come, Easy Go
Tickle

So of his 31 acting movies 18 of them fall into the average category. Seven excellent, six poor and 18 falling into the okay slot.

 

Here are some more songs he recorded in private. Some were done in Germany while he was in the Army and the rest in America from the 1960s to 1970s.

Ghost Riders In The Sky
500 miles
Dark Moon
Crying Time
Write To Me From Naples
My Heart Cries For You
I Understand Just How You Feel
When The Swallows Come Back
Havah Nagila
I Wonder, I wonder, I wonder
Blowing In The Wind
If I Loved You
Tennessee Waltz
Portrait Of My Love
Let Me Be The One
Cattle Call (he yodels)
You Belong To My Heart
At The Hop
Earth Angel
A Hundred Years From Now
Make Believe

 

I have to add another poor movie to the list: Double Trouble

So by my scoring of his acting movies 17 I would regard as average, Seven are excellent, seven are poor and 17 are acceptable.