The King

Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, would have been 75 years old today.

I always remember this as it was the same date as My Nan and also the infamous Tony Chadwick!

What, you've not heard of Tony Chadwick, Stockports answer to Brian Sewell! (We'll cover this off another time)

There has been a lot of TV and press coverage of the fact that he would have been 75 today, but just think how much there would have been had he still been alive? There would have been wall to wall coverage of a live tribute concert with him dueting with Elton John, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Paul Mcartney and I'm sure Bono would have squeezed in somewhere, Phil Collins would have played Drums and I'm sure Eric Clapton would have got on stage as well, oh and Billy Crystal would have been compere!

Even if Michael Jackson had not died this year, he would probably have been "Persona Non Grata" following his attempt to tap up Lisa Marie!!!

But, on August 16th 1977, at the age of 42, he died, apparently seated on his toiliet, at Gracelands, his home in Memphis. Back in 1977, aged 16, I thought that 42 was quite old. Not a long lived life, but he had moved into another age level that was now out of kilter with the yoof of the day! Interestingly, my Dad was 39!!!

Everybody remembers where they were when certain world events happened, the Kennedy assassinations, Space Shuttle Explosions, Twin Towers 911 etc.

Well the morning that the news about Elvis's death filtered through to the UK, was as surprising as Jacko's death, in as much as there was no indication that there were problems. Princess Di, the Kennedy's etc. were shocking in as much as they were accidental/violent ends, but no one had Elvis on a list of expected celebrity deaths!

What we know now about the abuse of prescription drugs and eating habits were not really known in those days and for a 16 year old in 1977 they would have been of little interest!

So I heard of his death whilst, ironically, vomiting down the toilet, after getting drunk the night before.

I had an evening job, sticking skittles up for the local social club skittles teams. (It was a popular local sport in the west country) I was paid handsomely and the ladies team had reached the final at another pub and i was invited along, only to find out that the lad supposed to "stick up" had not turned up. So I stepped in, was supplied with copious amounts of "Shandy", but, as we won, I also imbibed in the contents that had been poured in the cup. Vodka, Gin, Sherry, you name it!!!

So the next morning, feeling very ill, I heard on the radio that the King was Dead!

I can't really comment on the coverage that day, or the next coupple of weeks, as that morning I was flying to Gibraltar on an Air Cadet Camp. But that's another story, for another day.

True, like any other artist, the Death of Elvis did wonders for his record sales and still does. I was'nt a massive fan, but I did like some of his music and everyone new Elvis.

I remember in Primary School a friend call Paul D'amato, did a fantastic impression of elvis at the age of 6!

Over the year there must be millions of Elvis impersonators, but I only recall one Elvis "Illusionists", Marco King.

Sharon and I went on Holiday to Florida in 1993 and shipped up at the Sheraton World Resort on International Drive in Orlando.

The hotel had a Brasserie Lounge and the neon sign outside the hotel advertised nightly Karaoke with Connie Brown. We headed there for our first taste of Florida entertainment! After enjoying the first evening, we noticed that the next night, after the normal Karaoke we could, free of charge, see the world famous Elvis Illusionist, Marco King.

So we made sure we got back in time for his show. It was really fun and he was good. The 70's Las Vegas version, but he sang to his backing tape and did all of the faux karate moves.

He was on again a few nights later so we decided to see him again. (By this time I had got into getting up for the Karaoke myself) and to be fair his show was slightly different, but at the end of his show, he got his girlfriend on stage and romantically, on bended knee, proposed to his Priscilla......Tammy!!! She accepted and there was hardly a dry eye in the house! Apart from the bar staff that is!

We were there for the second week and realised that this proposal happened every week in the second show!

He stayed after the show and the second week, he even got up after taking off his gear and joined in with the punters doing Karaoke. He was disgusted when he was asked to sing "always on my mind", the Pet Shop Boys version and walked off half way through!

We went back to the same hotel for about a week the next year and Connie was still runnning her Karaoke and Maco King "Elvis Illusionist" was still doing his two shows a week.

Unfortunatley, substance abuse of some sort had started to take affect, perhaps in an attempt to be more real to his illusion, but in a post show conversation, he told us that he and Tammy King had split up. He also told us that he had had no inclination to get into being an Elvis impersonator, sorry Illusionist until he actually met him. He had been hitching a lift to Las Vegas when a car pulled up and it was Elvis, who took him into the outskirts and dropped him off.

As Marco said "I touched his hand, he touched my heart"

Yeah Right Marco.

So the King is Dead, unless the rumours are true and he faked his death and he really is a 75 year old in a old folks home somewhere!