Elvis manager

He was mysterious and colorful, and, under his guidance, his one and only client -- Elvis -- reached unimaginable heights.

Since Elvis was the biggest name in the entertainment industry, his manager could hardly help appearing in the spotlight, too. But, even so, he was always anxious to ensure that attention never settled for very long on two vexed questions: exactly who he was and where he came from. He had toured with carnivals, worked with elephants and managed a palm-reading booth before finding his feet in the early s as a music promoter. Had anyone taken the trouble to inquire, however, they would have discovered that there was no record of the birth of any Thomas Parker in Huntingdon. They might also have discovered that Tom Parker had never held a U.

Elvis manager

In late February , President Richard Nixon made a historic trip to China in an effort to ease long-term tensions and hostilities after years of diplomatic isolation. Not only did this visit strengthen Chinese-American relations, but it also served to encourage progress with the USSR. I was driving Colonel Parker from Los Angeles to Palm Springs as we listened to a radio broadcast of this event, live via satellite from China. He blurted the first thing that came to his mind. He knew a show by satellite could make entertainment history and Elvis was the perfect worldwide star to pull it off. But how do you achieve something that has never been done before? I have been around lots of wealthy and influential people. Many of them come up with great ideas such as these, but If they do, there is a team of people doing the nuts and bolts to pull it off. Colonel Parker was a one-man show. He was among that. This idea, he felt, could be very big… but it would need some more thought. The world was changing, and so was Elvis. Elvis and Priscilla were separated and talk of a divorce was making headlines everywhere.

But the mourners who filtered into Ballroom D saw him as one of the last giants and true iconoclasts of the century - a penniless immigrant who slipped into the country, befriended U. After his legal career, Sam started a record label with music impresario David Foster, which they later sold to Warner Music. However, Hanks, who has six prior elvis manager and won twice, was snubbed for his role as Colonel Tom Parker, elvis manager.

The Tom Hanks Tom Parker portrayal in Elvis caused quite a stir when the film was released, both because of Hank's interpretation of the character and the relationship between Elvis and Colonel Tom in Baz Luhrmann's story. The real Elvis Presley manager was known for some appalling behavior towards his star client, and Elvis tried its best to portray that accurately. The real Elvis Presley manager Tom Hanks played certainly had some unethical practices, and many Elvis viewers were shocked when the film explored them. Colonel Tom Parker was certainly an unusual role for Tom Hanks , who is mostly known for playing heartwarming protagonists. The real Tom Parker did a lot of controversial things during his time in show business, and the Baz Luhrmann movie reveals just how callous and uncaring he could be in pursuit of wealth. The Colonel wasn't a household name before Elvis , but Tom Hanks' controversial portrayal of the Elvis Presley manager has meant the controversial entertainment mogul's story is gaining interest — and infamy. In both the movie and real life, the Elvis Presley manager was a man with a mysterious past who had a key role in both The King's success and downfall.

Barnum and W. Though he claimed he was born in Huntington, West Virginia, his actual identity was uncovered when relatives spotted him in a photo with Presley. Born Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk in Breda, Netherlands, he started training horses with a local circus in his youth and then claimed to have worked as a sailor on Holland America Cruise Line in his teen years. While he told some that he came to the U. Changing his name to Parker, he served in the U. Army and then went down to Florida to work for a traveling circus, where he learned how to hawk an attraction. Presley started recording music and touring — and winning the attention of a young female audience for his striking looks and gyrating hips.

Elvis manager

He was best known as the manager of Elvis Presley. Parker was born in the Netherlands and entered the United States illegally when he was 20 years old. He adopted a new name and claimed to have been born in the United States. With a background working in carnivals , Parker moved into music promotion in , working with one of the first popular crooners , Gene Austin , and country music singers Eddy Arnold , Hank Snow , and Tommy Sands. He also assisted Jimmie Davis 's campaign to become governor of Louisiana , for which he was awarded the honorary rank of " colonel " in the Louisiana State Guard. Parker encountered Presley in and by had become his manager. With Parker's help, Presley signed a recording contract with RCA Victor , which led to a commercial breakthrough in with his sixth single " Heartbreak Hotel " and a career as one of the most commercially successful entertainers in the world. Parker received more than half of the income from the enterprise, an unprecedented figure for a music manager. He negotiated Presley's lucrative merchandising deals and media appearances and is said to have influenced Presley's personal life, including his decision to accept military service in and his marriage to Priscilla Beaulieu in Parker encouraged Presley to make musical films, and they became the focus of his career during his commercial decline in the s until his comeback and return to touring.

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On each of my three visits with Colonel Parker, I sat across the table from him and looked into his eyes - hypnotic pools of unearthly blue - and wondered, Just who are you? Wikimedia Commons. Presley had to do no more than provide RCA Victor with three albums a year, [34] and his film soundtracks did that for him. Linda and I are friends to this day. He resides in the Palm Springs area with his wife Sherry. A few years later, when the draft was introduced during the World War II, Parker ate until he weighed more than pounds in a successful bid to have himself declared unfit for further service. Elvis, sporting a white high-collared suit, aviator sunglasses, and longer-than-usual hair, sat next to Laginestra with the Colonel off to the side. I control my creativity and my music and my show. Breda , Netherlands. Army prior to his involvement as a music manager. Marshall Terrill is a music, film, and sports writer and the author of numerous books, including biographies of Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, and Pete Maravich. Highly recommended.

Though the two were close for years, Parker is a hotly debated figure in the Presley story. Fans and observers also suspect Presley did not tour internationally due to the fact that Parker, an illegal immigrant to the United States from the Netherlands, lacked a passport and never became a naturalized U. Parker originally claimed to have been born in Huntington, West Virginia, but his true origins were revealed when family members in the Netherlands saw a news photo of him with Presley.

Many Parker biographers, including Dirk Vellenga and Alanna Nash, have stated that Parker's gambling habit began to get out of control in the mids. Yet I discovered as I began to research this book that in the strange choreography of chance and coincidence, the fates of Elvis Aaron Presley and Thomas Andrew Parker were bound by two still surging events, and the pull each incident had on both of them. In , Parker pushed Elvis to marry Priscilla Beaulieu , hoping that it would help change the tide of his career. However, other friends and members of Presley's entourage have stood by the suggestion that Parker didn't want to admit there was such a problem because he didn't know how to deal with it, and he was also worried about any negative publicity it would create. Elvis was just as famous in London, Berlin and Tokyo—yet in a career of almost 30 years, he played a total of only three concerts on foreign soil, in Canada in Elvis made an appearance at the press conference with RCA president Rocco Laginestra, who flew in for the event. His uncle was a skipper by profession and he always sailed from Breda to Rotterdam. At last, I want to say what was told to me 19 years ago about this Colonel Parker. By the s, Parker could have placed a phone call directly to Lyndon Johnson to smooth out any problems with his naturalization. Elvis: Word for Word. From onward, Presley's weight gain and prescription drug abuse became too much to be controlled. The Elvis Encyclopedia. But this guy is like eighty years old — too old to be taught the limits of racism… He probably doesn't realize how horrible a thing that was to do.