From the award-winning biographer of Elvis Presley, The Colonel and the King is a groundbreaking dual portrait of the relationship between the iconic artist and his legendary manager, Colonel Tom Parker, drawing on a wealth of Parker's never-before-seen correspondence to reveal that this oft-reviled figure was in fact a confidant, friend, and architect of his client's success.
In early 1955, Colonel Tom Parkerthe manager of the number-one country musician of the dayheard that an unknown teenager from Memphis had just drawn a crowd of more than 800 people to a Texas schoolhouse, and headed south to investigate. Within days, Parker was sending out telegrams and letters to promoters and booking agents: We have a new boy that is absolutely going to be one of the biggest things in the business in a very short time. His name is ELVIS PRESLEY. Later that year, after signing with RCA, the young man sent a telegram of his own: Dear Colonel, Words can never tell you how my folks and I appreciate what you did for me.... I love you like a father.
The close personal bond between Elvis and the Colonel proved impossible for outside observers to understandnot during their lifetimes, and not in the decades since. It was a long-standing, deeply committed relationship, founded on mutual admiration and support. As the Colonel wrote to Elvis in July 1973, several years before the stars tragic death: Without a doubt you are by far the greatest artist I have ever known, and can be even greater if you just believe in yourself half as much as I believe in you. From the outset, the Colonel defended Elvis fiercely and indefatigably against RCA executives, Elvis own booking agents, and movie moguls. But in their final years together, the story grew darker, and the relationship strained, as the Colonel found himself unable to protect Elvis from himselfor to control growing problems of his own.
Featuring troves of never-before-seen correspondence from the Colonels own archives, revelatory both for their insights andparticularly with respect to Elvistheir emotional depth, The Colonel and the King provides a unique perspective on not one but two American originals. A tale of the birth of the modern-day superstar (an invention almost entirely of Parkers making) by the most acclaimed music writer of his generation, it presents these two misunderstood icons as theyve never been seen before: with all of their brilliance, humor, and flaws on full display.
