Elvis and the "Memphis Mafia"

Today, my blog entry focuses on the “Memphis Mafia”, a group of friends, employees and associates, who hanged out with Elvis Presley in the streets of Memphis. A lot of them had important functions for Elvis, such as bodyguards, who protected him on tours. In the most cases, Elvis didn’t pay them salaries. He preferred to give them gifts, houses or cars. Time after time, the Memphis Mafia grew and new members joined the group. But basically, a core group of individuals spent plenty of time with Elvis.

Elvis generally favored people, who were loyal as well as reliable. For instance, the Memphis Mafia included his first cousins Junior and Gene Smith. Also his high school friends Red West and the rockabilly singer Cliff Gleaves were part of the gang. Additionally, the woman Judy Spreckels, an American writer, publisher and trial historian joined the group. For her side, she felt like a sister to Elvis and kept a lot of secrets of Elvis’ early career. Other persons, such as Sonny West, a rock/n/roll musician, Joe Esposito, a veteran author and publisher as well as Charlie Hodge, an American singer and vocal coach counted as members of the gang. (Source: Wikipedia)

Just for my part, I haven’t heard that much about the interesting group. But they mostly hanged out in Memphis and its surrounding areas.

What is your opinion about the Memphis Mafia? Have you ever heard about it? Do you know where you can find milestones in Memphis, which point to the fact about the group?

Elvis Presley and the Beale Street

In his teenage life in Memphis, Elvis Presley spent some time on the legendary Beale Street. For instance, he bought clothes from the shop Lansky Brothers, which was focused on famous men’s clothier. Elvis didn’t buy clothes at the first time, but as he got more popular, the shop began to dress Elvis. The store, which has moved from the Beale Street to S Front St, is still available today, and has launched a new line of clothing entitled “Clothier to the King” in 2001.

Elvis and other musicians, such as B. B. King, often frequented the Beale Street. The street is an important milestone in the history of Memphis and of the blues. Nowadays, the Beale Street, located in Downtown, entices big crowds of tourists as well as younger people. It offers a bunch of restaurants, clubs and bars.

Pertaining to the history of it, the street was created in 1841. An entrepreneur called Robertson Topp named it for a forgotten military hero. In the 1860, a huge number of black musicians began to perform on Beale Street. Forty years later, the street contained plenty of clubs and bars. Especially between 1920 and 1940, legends, such as B. B. King, Louis Armstrong and Albert King, played in the bars there. During the sixties, Beale became run down and the most stores closed. 1977, a congress declared the street as the “Home of the Blues” and Elkington & Keltner began to rebuild and redevelop the street. As a consequence, the street is one of the most known attractions of Memphis, mostly recommended in every guidebook. (source: Wikipedia)

What is your opinion about the Beale Street? Do you see a connection between Elvis and it today? Or is the Beale Street just a party street without any linkage to Elvis’ history?

Elvis Presley and the Sun Studio – the beginning of an unbelievable musician

Today, I want to publish my first blog entry, concerning to Elvis and his connection to Memphis. The topic is the Sun Studio in Memphis, where Elvis has recorded his first tow songs “That’s all right” as well as “That’s when your heartaches begin”.

The Sun Studio, opened by Sam Phillips at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, is a recording studio. The first song was recorded by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats “Rocket 88” in 1951. After that, more and more artists began to record songs there. The Sun Studio is famous for the genres Rock & Roll, Blues and R&B and many artists, such as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbinson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and last but not least Elvis Presley. Today, the Sun Studio is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Memphis. Fans from the entire world travel to Memphis for taking a deep look at this milestone of Elvis’ career.

In 1953, Elvis Presley, an unknown artist at this time, attended the Sun Studio for recording his two songs “My happiness” and “That’s when your heartaches begin”. Sam Phillips actually wanted to search for someone, who sang like a black musician and focused on a wide audience. He said “If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars”. Initially, Phillips wasn’t that impressed, but then Elvis suddenly began performing a song (That’s all right) and the guitarist “Winfield Moore” and the bass player “Bill Black” started playing with him. Just some days later, a popular Memphis DJ called Dewey Phillips played the song in his show. People took more and more notice of this song and the first single was pressed. (source Wikipedia 2011)

As you see, the Sun Studio had a huge impact on Elvis’ career. 6 weeks ago, I visited the studio for gathering a personal opinion. From my point of view, the Sun Studio represents the connection between Elvis Presley and itself well. You can see and buy all stuff pertaining to the famous Rock & Roll musician. Certainly, the studio is focused on tourists for making profit, but nonetheless you can get a detailed look in the history and connection between these two milestones of Rock & Roll.

What is your opinion? Have you ever visited the Sun Studio? How is the representation shown? What might be better?

Welcome to my Elvis Presley and Memphis blog

This blog will include all significant information about Elvis' life, his influence and relevance for the city Memphis in Tennessee. The Focus will be all the time on Elvis Presley and his connection to Memphis.
Basically, I will post regularly information and pictures about all the places in Memphis, which are a part of Elvis' history.