Previous COVER STORIES
ELVIS THE LEGEND LIVES
 During Elvis Week (Aug. 9-17), thousands of people from around the world will converge in Memphis at Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, to celebrate his life. Fans have made the pilgrimage annually since Presley's death in 1977 and this year’s gathering will include various special events including the second annual Ultimate Elvis Tribute Contest, fan club events, charity fundraisers, celebrity guests and other musical tributes.
Were you an Elvis fan? If so, do you remember where you were when he died?
 I do. I was a friend. I was with Tony Orlando in Manhattan. We had just gotten back to the Waldorf Astoria Towers from his first outing since his “breakdown.”
Ironically, on the way back to the apartment, he demanded we stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral to say prayers for Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa Marie. Orlando didn’t know why, he just suspected something was wrong. He knew Elvis, but there certainly wasn’t any type of friendship.
When the door opened to the apartment, Orlando’s wife at the time, Elaine, was waiting for us. She immediately told me to sit down.
<TOP>
I responded by asking, “Is Karen (my wife) okay?”
 She said “yes, but Elvis had died.”
The next 48 hours was chaotic. Trying to deal with Orlando and his situation, and the endless amount of telephone calls from press around the world wanting to know if I was attending the funeral was difficult.
Publications offered money wanting me to attend. I was approved to go to Memphis, but felt it was better to stay away. I didn’t want to hear the barrage of questions about what it was like to attend Elvis Presley’s funeral.
(Ed. Note: The photo above is a signed photo, from Frank Lieberman's private collection)
Today, 31 years after his passing, it’s special to say that I knew Elvis and was considered a friend. I still talk with three members of the Memphis Mafia – Joe Esposito, Jerry Schilling and Sonny West.
Schilling has remained the closest to Elvis and works for Graceland Enterprises. He is a main coordinator and contributor to the Memphis Elvis Week. He also wrote a book about his relationship with Elvis that had the total support and backing of Priscilla and Lisa Maria. I did some of the publicity for the book.
Esposito is recognized by many as the most credible source on Elvis’s life and career. He met Presley while serving in the Army in 1959. The two became fast friends and soon after Esposito became Presley’s road manager. As the publisher of “Remember Elvis,” along with five other published works that chronicle Presley’s career, Esposito is an inextricable link to the memory of Elvis.
Today, Esposito is back in Las Vegas working at Wynn Las Vegas. Until recently he was a casino host, but now is a limousine driver.
For the first time, Esposito, on Aug. 16, will be involved in an Elvis tribute show in Irving, TX., offering a special prelude and showing rare Elvis footage few have ever viewed. Proceeds from this tribute will go to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Las Vegas’ yearly Elvis tribute takes place in The Club at The Cannery (Aug. 8-9) and will include West, the author of the first Elvis book -- “Elvis: What’s Happening” -- and the most recent, “Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business.”
<TOP>
“Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business provides revealing insight into Presley’s career and personal life. West was a charter member of the infamous Memphis Mafia and had a close friendship with ‘The King.’
The book features never-before-seen photos from West’s personal collection along with a number of untold stories such as:
-- Presley’s relationships with female co-stars Tuesday Weld, Shelly Fabres, Ursula Andress, Juliet Prowse, Nancy Sinatra, Connie Stevens and Natalie Wood;
-- The night Lucille Ball called Presley out on his deteriorating condition in his Las Vegas dressing room in 1973;
-- West’s current feelings for Priscilla and Lisa Marie;
-- The story behind the infamous photo of Elvis and the Memphis Mafia proudly displaying their police badges;
-- Detailed accounts from the movie years (1960-69) and touring years (1970-76);
-- The July 1976 firing in which West was let go after 16 years and why.
If you want to read the book that the estate probably didn’t endorse, then “Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business” is for you. It’s arguably the most authentic, no-holds-barred depiction of the greatest entertainer who ever lived.
“The new book has given me peace of mind,” West told Vegastars via telephone from Hendersonville, TN. “Frank, you know better than most that there were a lot of hurt feelings back then. We couldn’t challenge or tell him what he was doing wrong. We knew it, but couldn’t do anything about it.
“H thought he was invincible, but at the same time hated he was doing…the movies, the music, just life in general,” continued West. “His father knew, but wouldn’t do anything about it. If we said something, he’d jump all over us. Then we were all fired and the people around him would let him do anything he wanted. Down deep we knew he was in trouble.”
<TOP>
West also believes that if Linda Thompson was still his girl friend at the time of his death, he would not have died that night.
“She saved his life on more than one occasion,” he emphatically said. “I believe as long as she was around, incidents that killed would not have happened because of their relationship. She never went to sleep until he was out for the night…and that took time.”
West said his life is still always Elvis and that he is doing shows similar to The Cannery all around the world all year long.
“It amazes me the age gamut that these shows draw,” he says. “Young girls today love him to death. It is as if he is still performing live and they get to see him all the time.”
West time with Elvis almost took its toll on his personal life.
Elvis’ demands almost cost him his marriage, but he has managed to stay with his wife, Judy for more than 30 years, and, he’s about to become a grandfather.
“After the first book came out, I heard how Elvis felt about it and it hurt,” said West.” but it was something I had to do. With the second one, the pain is gone. When I see again, I won’t have a problem facing him.”
Read Frank's exclusive interview with Elvis here.
|
